I’m a newbie and learning SEO, little by little.

[webstudent]

I work for a mid-sized non-profit; about three months back we hired an SEO company. The SEO company is engaged in aggressive link building, their style of link building is to get links from hundreds of directories and what appear like made-for-links websites each month, there appears to be little if any quality to these sites.

Important is that while we have good links (and a good amount of them) pointing to our website we’ve never engaged in link building ourselves.

Considering the above:

1. For long term value to our website is this SEO firm acting in our best interest in their link building style?
2. Is their link building something that Google likes or dislikes?
3. Any recommendations?

Thanks in Advance.

[pageoneresults]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld webstudent!

I work for a mid-sized non-profit; about three months back we hired an SEO company. The SEO company is engaged in aggressive link building, their style of link building is to get links from hundreds of directories and what appear like made-for-links websites each month, there appears to be little if any quality to these sites.

Production Line SEO Ripoffs is what I call them.

Important is that while we have good links (and a good amount of them) pointing to our website we’ve never engaged in link building ourselves.

So now you've got a Production Line SEO Ripoff distorting your natural link profile. Has the site maintained its presence or are things taking a turn for the worse?

1. For long term value to our website is this SEO firm acting in our best interest in their link building style?

Absolutely not! In fact, you should get a refund and have them undo everything they've done. Hopefully you have not given them direct access to the site where they can add pages, links, etc. If you have given them access and they've added pages of links for reciprocation, your online business is about to take a dive. It's a slow death, I've seen it quite a few times in me tenure.

2. Is their link building something that Google likes or dislikes?

I believe there are plenty of statements from Google about their disdain for this type of link development.

3. Any recommendations?

Ya, FIRE that SEO firm today.

I work for a mid-sized non-profit; about three months back we hired an SEO company.

Did you find them? Or, did they find you?

[rocknbil]

Wurd 'dat, and give their phone # to P1R, he'll send "Guido" by there to break some digital data for you. :-)

[leadegroot]

I agree with the opinions above.
It is unlikely that these techniques will give any benefit to your site and there is a strong probability of it having a negative affect.
If its possible to have the work undone, I would suggest that.