I wish we could've made it to SES this week in San Jose, but with lots of new projects lately, I suppose we'll just have to settle on living vicariously through others. On that note, I've been reading a lot of good notes about Google's position with paid links from attendees at the SES sessions this week. After reading a few really good posts on Google's stance on paid links by Rand from SEOMoz as well as Bruce Clay, I'll have to say I'm not surprised at all about the feedback from both sides - Google and webmasters. Google still stands behind their assessments of paid links that pass link juice such as those from paid blog review sites we wrote about in our list of blog advertising sites several weeks ago.

In a nutshell, it seems very clear that these are the ways Google wants web site owners who've been compensated for a link to handle the outbound link reference:

• Redirect through a robots.txt file
• Redirect through a 302 method
• Use JavaScript to link out
• Use the NoFollow link attribute

These are the methods primarily used with text link networks like AdBrite, Quigo, and others. Matt Cutts from Google mentioned these methods above at SES this week.

The point that many marketers there portrayed is that there are flaws and an ever-growing backlash towards Google from many web site owners for trying to say that buying links is bad and "don't do it" - plain and simple.

An example made by a few is that Google is hypocritical because they allow advertisers to bid on PPC ads for terms like "link building" or "buy links" in Google Adwords.

Other reasons have been given by other SEO experts like Aaron Wall , who pointed out several weeks ago that Google was caught selling high PageRank links on their own site - again! There are many more examples, but the above should illustrate just a few of the double-standards webmasters have brought up concerning Google's move to squash or instill fear in those looking to buy links for better rankings.

So, where does this all leave site owners wanting to buy links. In my opinion, here are a few tips that may help if you are still going to buy links "under the radar."

• Review every potential paid link from web sites with great detail. Look for the number of times they write paid posts. For client campaigns in the past, we've tended to look for sites that write paid reviews 1 of every 8 to 10 posts. If paid reviews are every other entry on the site, move on.
• Stay on target. Buying paid reviews from sites that will write on everything even though they are in a niche industry will get you in trouble. We see crap like this all the time. Example: A technology blog/blogger will take on paid reviews for ladies handbags or health insurance. Talk about off-topic! Rand from SEOmoz calls these "sloppy sellers" and I agree fully.
• Look at link neighborhoods. This relates to staying on target above, but advertisers need to make informed assessments of the site they are thinking of buying a link. Analyze the site's outbound links, who links to them, industry focus as it relates to your advertisement, etc. Jim Boykin's Forward Link title tag tool gives a good ten thousand foot view of a site's link neighborhood.
• Look for sites way under the radar that are not in paid review networks like Blogsvertise or PayPerPost (PPP). If you can score a contextual link or two by offering a webmaster/company $50+ for a couple of short paragraphs on a relevant and on-topic page of their site, do it.

The point is to stay away from sites that disclose that they will write a review for money across their site's pages. It's also worth it to look for sites that are at a higher price point per review and those where the site owner(s) will actually write a real review on your services or product. These finds are less likely to be approached by many blog review link buyers because of the higher price of $50-80 per review, maybe more depending on what niche and how popular the blog review site is.

You can easily spot "sloppy" looking blog reviews by the way they are written - totall unnatural and very "sales pitchy." Look for a higher caliber web site with solid rankings, aged and relevant backlinks. Ultimately, you'll stay "under the radar" so you can better succeed at blog review link buying if you don't get sloppy yourself. ;-)

Feel free to add any other paid linking methods that we overlooked in the comments section below.