We all know that selling ads using Text Link Ads, TNX.net and LinkWorth is frowned at by search engine God, Google.

It’s the popular theory that this was the cause of the massive Page Rank drop for many bloggers these past few weeks. But do many of us know that being on a list of many links like a directory also gets you penalised. Joining or paying to be on directories of links doesn’t seem like a good idea after all.

Read this from Lorelle’s Secret Out- How Google Ranks Websites:

There is now TrustRank and content matching, and link lists are now downgraded if there isn’t the text to explain the links

Of course directories like Yahoo Directories and DMoz should be okay since they are well categorised. I’m talking about just being on a list of unrelated links.

So it’s the same at the end of the barrel. People who pay to be on text link ads also gets penalised because the they are normally placed in a group of links that are unrelated. Grouping these links under a “Featured” block or “Monthly picks” sidebar block will probably have a detrimental effect in the long term for both advertisers of the links as well as those paying to join the list.

Popularity: 23% [?]