While it is true, that Google does recognize that a website owner can not control who links to them and will not intentionally penalize them for for the actions of others, it is also true that Google does look out for sites that are participating in “link spamming” (like our cited example for this post) and Google DOES penalize sites for a variety of reasons, link spamming being one of them.

As we all know, our actions can be positive, neutral or negative. The same is true with SEO. The practice of SEO can have very positive results when done right. However, it can have very negative consequences when it is done wrong. Back-linking (getting other sites to link to yours) can have positive results when it is done in a manner with the end user in mind. Back-linking poorly can have neutral results as you pointed out. However, when back-linking falls into the realm of “link spamming” it can have a negative impact and push your website from page 2 in the search results to page 950.

So could a competitor “link spam” a website and get them removed from the search results. Yes, it can happen. There is even a name for it, “Google Bowling.” Forbes magazine even ran an article about the practice a couple of years ago called The Saboteurs of Search.

Granted, a couple of years ago is like a decade on the Internet so surely Google has fixed their algorithm to eliminate such nefarious practices, right? Well, at the SMX Advanced here in Seattle just last summer, Matt Cutts (famed Google engineer for those that don’t know) was answering questions about Google Bowling. So it is clearly still an issue. Here’s his answer:

“The short answer is we try really hard to make sure that one person can’t Google bowl another person. You try to include it in your algorithm so much that you don’t want those links to count, but you don’t necessarily want anyone to be in a position where somebody else could try to hurt you….

We try to make it so that it doesn’t cause a drop in your rankings (if a competitor tries to hurt you). We try to do stuff algorithmically, we use manual means…we’ve been pretty clear that we do not like paid links and we take action on it, but at the same time, we try very hard to make it so that just because somebody else doesn’t like you, they can’t submarine your rankings and things like that.”

The full article of his quote is on WebProNews – How Google Handles Google Bowling.

As you can see, while Google tries to ensure that they don’t penalize websites for the actions of others, their algorithm does penalize link spamming. So, if a competitor can make it look like you are link spamming, then there is the possibility that your site could drop in the rankings. It doesn’t mean that it will, just that the possibility is there for it to happen.

One of Google’s biggest partners in the fight against link spam is the website owner, ensuring that they keep their websites clean of spammy links. Doing so can make Google Bowling and link spamming mostly ineffective because the links are deleted before they are ever posted. Just like the link that initially prompted this post.

We like to think that we help do our part for a better web.

If someone was to get slapped by google for creating such links then im sure many of us would go around creating such links for our competitors. You will not get penalized for such a link however if you are paying someone to create backlinks for you and they do them in the same form as the example you posted above then yes i agree you need to put a stop to it.

Firstly because the link will more or less have no value.
it will not get approved
looks very unprofessional

Webmasters should concentrate on quality links rather then quantity. Use a company that you can trust and make sure you get given reports with direct urls for the backlink.