Forbes Sales Link
Someone from Forbes appears to have posted on the Google Webmaster Central forum seeking help with a link violation notice. The notice requires Forbes to remove unnatural links from its site content.
Matt Cutts of Google commented on the post saying that he had israel mobile database confirmed multiple times that paid links passed PageRank. Cutts suggested that Forbes remove paid links that passed PageRank to reverse the penalty. TechCrunch reported that Forbes began removing paid links in 2011 after receiving the fine.
Even Google screws up their own SEO from time to time. One time, they included a follow link in a sponsored post about Google Chrome. This was black hat SEO because the link was included in sponsored content that the company paid for. The Google webspam team penalized oogleomchrome , lowering its PageRank for 60 days. The black mark against Google Chrome caused them to rank lower in search results for the term “browser.”
Why You Should Avoid Black Hat SEO
While black hat SEO isn't illegal, it does violate the webmaster guidelines set forth by search engines. In other words, it's still against the rules. This means that if you engage in black hat SEO, you must be willing to receive a severe penalty as punishment. Being penalized by search engines can cause your site to drop down in search results, or worse, it can be removed entirely. This means your site will receive less traffic and, ultimately, fewer customers.