A brief history of link buying From the very beginning of the web links have had an inherent value, driving visits and raising awareness to increase revenue and deliver improved branding. It's only been in the Age of Google that their true impact on search engine rankings has been better understood. Simply put, links (and particularly targeted anchor text links) can have a major impact on rankings. It's no surprise that a marketplace for links emerged with those sites with deep enough pockets paying to artificially boost their presence on search engines. Google quickly realised that the level playing field it had created could be 'gamed' by buying links en masse via trading sites or by dealing directly, so it changed its quality guidelines to advise against buying links, reserving the right to penalise those blatantly selling or buying. It also began proactively discounting the value of obviously bought links and its web spam team focused on improving the algorithm to reduce...
