Ah, deary me... google's gone and opened a can of worms...

[Blazingpie]

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/how-to-report-paid-links/

Basically you can report paid links to google. They havent stated what sort of paid links, ie legit advertising vs just for SEO gains.

As BigBadWolf said in the comments:


I have to admit that sounds pretty stupid to me… So people will just look at their competitors High PR backlinks and “guestimate” that they probably paid for them and everyone will be reporting everyone else that ranks higher than them. Yippee back to kindergarten and tattle-tailing everytime someone is beating you in the rankings.


That pretty much sums up what Im thinking...

[Paz]

I think they're looking at examples of pages that are selling links to game Google rather than looking to out or penalise sites directly. They're working on an algo to filter out paid links and have asked for help.

In 2004 they wiped out sites that were doing non relevant link exchanges and I think sites relying exclusively on paid links will be next to go. Links from pages with "buy a link here" will be first up against the wall.

[Chatmaster]

The issue here is that it is completely impossible for Google to determine if links are paid for. They are barking up the wrong tree and will most definately not be able to get this one sorted by compiling an algo. No webmaster at his right senses will report paid links anyway, unless they have the IQ of 10 thinking this will sort out their competitors. I am surprised Google even believes it can find a way to positively identify paid links, they are trying to fight the monster they created... lol

[Koz]

You're right Chatmaster, there is no way they could do this with an algo. Guess their best option is to just go and sign up at Text Link Ads to find out what sites are participating.