Offering money or return-links for links is shady, but it's not inherently illegal or anything.[1] Google doesn't own the internet. I wonder if it's a worthwhi

Offering money or return-links for links is shady, but it's not inherently illegal or anything.[1] Google doesn't own the internet. I wonder if it's a worthwhile risk. While there are some high-profile busts, in general most sites probably don't get caught. Though it's probably harder to do effectively since Google improved their algorithms. In the flower case [2], Google claimed the links hadn't helped the sites. Though Google couldn't have penalized all the Flower companies, since that would have made their results much worse. [1] If you're paying someone to link to you, that needs to be disclosed, but that doesn't mean the link needs to be nofollow. Though I guess following that rule would make it very easy to be caught. [2] http://searchengineland.com/ny-times-covers-paid-link-schemes-first-j-c-penney-now-flowers-industry-76340 http://searchengineland.com/ny-times-covers-paid-link-scheme...