daamsie - 6:58 am on Jul 16, 2003 (gmt 0)

the original poster first says he reported spam then goes on to say that he breaks the Google guidlines by "aquiring PR".

mfishy, bockesh never said he 'acquired PR' - he said he acquired a link. Since when is it a crime or even against google guidelines to acquire a link? Isn't that the foundation of the web?

Bockesh, I think you did the right thing and it's not true that 'what goes around comes around' if you aren't doing anything wrong. I don't think that by being associated with this PR7 site that linked to your competitor you will have lost out on rankings. Of course, it may be that the PR7 site's links have lost their value because they have been busted for 'selling PR' or something of the likes, but not for the hidden text violations of a site it was linking to.

Where were you before your competitor was eliminated? Obviously not in the second spot. Instead of looking at what others are doing wrong, spend some time looking at what those above you now are doing RIGHT. Check their incoming links, check their on-page text, titles and use of H tags and make sure to keep on creating quality content for your own site the whole time!