jtara - 2:43 pm on Jun 20, 2006 (gmt 0)

I have white hat sites that do well in mildly competetive sectors and other white hat sites that are so far down the index it's unreal. These sites are continually outranked by competitors that openly employ black hat techniques.

But do the top sites employ these techniques?

Occasionally, I do see this in the very top sites, but only VERY occasionally. Big corporate sites do often walk a fine line (but BMW got slapped) but I doubt you will find open, obvious black-hat techniques in, say, the top 5 listings.

I think you have to decide if you are ever going to be a top site, or are content to run somewhere in the middle of the pack.

I contend that if you employ black-hat techniques, you ruin your chances of EVER being a top site.