jbgilbert - 10:37 pm on Apr 30, 2004 (gmt 0)

Yes - if the site you link to has an affiliate link on it of any kind then Google will give YOU a penalty. Thats the kind of guys they are.

Pleaaaaaasssssseeeeeeee.... Don't make these types of statements. There are many newbies on the board and they look to the more experienced to guide them. The statement has no basis of fact.

Furthermore, when trying to decide what Google likes and does not like, try to keep in mind "logistics" -- for example:

Hypothysis #1: Google will penalize you if a "bad neighborhood" site links to you.

Logistics:
- How could Google possibly throw enough processing or people power at identifying all the "bad neighborhoods" on the internet?

- How does an automated mechanism profile a "bad neighborhood"? For that matter, how could the most powerful machine on earth (the brain) profile a bad neighborhood.

- Even if Google tried to do this then a competitor could detroy all his competition by simply going to these "bad neighborhoods" and getting links to all his competition -- surely this is not something Google would walk into blindly.

Hypothysis #2: Google hates affiliate sites.

Logistics:
- A huge piece of Google's income is from "affiliate" sites -- hellooooo, what the heck do you call AdSense?