WebProNews

Search engines and webmasters continue to play a cat-and-mouse game over the purchase of links to build one's site ranking; what's going to happen when the cat pounces and a little webmaster mouse cries foul over the advice they received?

Some top SEO people plan to discuss the topic and strategies of acquiring links at next week's SMX Advanced conference in Seattle. Links literally equal money for webmasters, as anything below a top five placement on Google for a site's topic likely means little traffic.

The profit potential from a high organic ranking leads webmasters to seek out ways to gain and maintain a top placement. Search engines frown upon some of the more aggressive tactics, like link buying. Google in particular cracks down hard when it suspects a site picked up inbound links in a less than orderly organic fashion.

Link buying still shows up as a strategy promoted by search professionals. "Want to learn the most coveted secrets to "buying" the links the engines would never consider a 'paid link?'," reads the copy for one sure to be filled conference session.

But we have to wonder about the potential aftermath of link buying gone wrong. In January 2007, Google's Matt Cutts dismissed claims that a site can elude detection when it comes to pruchased links.

If a webmaster relies upon advice about link buying, only to have the search engine later discover and drop the site from rankings over this, should the advisor be liable for a loss of traffic?

We live in a society that rests a finger on a hair-trigger when it comes to filing lawsuits. If there's a reason why a webmaster would not seek satisfaction from a failed link-buying plan, we're hard-pressed to think of it.

The search companies have no incentive to see a site fast-track its way atop the search results for a given query if the site's content fails to merit such a gain. A site owner will argue otherwise; some may even think they are "entitled" to a top-three position in the search results.

Eventually, we think someone will suffer from a link buying backlash to the point where they look to assign liability to whoever provided that advice. It will be interesting to see if such a situation ends up in court for resolution.