The Dark Side of the Force: Skanky Links

[minstrel]

I guess I fail to see the point.

I can't disagree with that...

[Dave Hawley]

but I don't know how they would detect or enforce it...

No, neither do I. Although it would great if they discovered a way and omited an PR pass on from bought links. That would drop of few cheaters off the map!

[magnolia]

Yes, but... I think it's more important to look at the content, relevance, and quality of the site

Agree. It's why I made this comment in my original post -

A pages/site's PageRank should definitely be one of the criteria used when forking over cash for a link. But not the only one. Ask about demographics, geographics, traffic, visibility, co-promotional opportunities, who's advertisied in the past etc..

Using the Google's PageRank tool bar is just that - a tool. A site's PageRank should be one of the many criteria used to purchase ad space/a link in addition to what was listed above. And isn't that what Google's PageRank score really is? Even they use the same criteria.

(3) it allows you to estimate low PR pages that will becone high PR pages in the foreseeable future - and you just got in on the ground floor! which means your link may well be higher on the links page for that site...

<lol> I'm not a girl that gambles, especially when I'm using client money. But if there was a site I thought had great content and was a good promotional partner for my/my client's site, then sure, even if it had crappy PageRank I'd ask for the link/buy it/swap.

Or are there different standards to be enforced online and off?

I don't think so! Marketing principles remain constant, online or off.

Debra.