Half of the new threads in the Google section are addressing Google's efforts to combat "paid links." There are discussions about how they must be avoided at all cost, how they can lead to penalties, even how Google has a double standard since they sell advertising. There are already innumerable misconceptions in the
SEO world, and this seems to be leading to even more...
Nobody has EVER said that there is anything wrong with buying or selling links or ads on the web. There is no penalty for doing so. Never has been. You are free to buy and sell links all you want, free of consequence. This is a concept almost as old as the Internet itself.
The only issue that is related to the buying and selling of links, is failure to disclose, in a way obvious to the consumer and search engines, the fact that a link has been paid for. In the days before Google, all paid links were obvious. You moused over the link, and the status bar would show a different address, and you knew it was a paid or sponsored link. Nearby text would say something like sponsored links, etc. Now, however, these signals are gone. That is what is being penalized. And no, this is not just a Google thing. If you are in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, or many other countries, failure to disclose that a link is paid for is a
federal crime.
So, to my point, can we please stop calling the links that are being targeted "paid links"? That terminology does nothing but create additional misconceptions that do not need to be added to this already confusing industry.
Some suggestions: "deceptive links" (used by the FTC), "undisclosed paid links" (used in Australia v Google), "spam links" or do you have any suggestions for a new term?