Odd as this may seem, Google.inc has applied a penalty to google.co.jp with its pagrank being downgraded from PR9 to PR5 (Googles words) . In a recent interview Matt Cutts said that unfortunately, while promoting a new gadget, google used the outside agency services of a company who used paid blog posting as the method of SEO!
As anyone knows, Google frown on unnatural link building, and have a war on paid links. Because of this, Google.co.jp was nailed, and the reputation of Google has been damaged
Hi OWG, I wonder if you could explain about paid blog posting .. never heard of it. I keep reading about avoiding anything paid, like buying a link but am afraid I am confused .. perhaps a blog post explaining what is considered a paid link (eg paid directories), as an advert is a link but it’s paid for .. hence my confusion. Thanks