People are still paying for links

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

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  Alan Bleiweiss: Some people are still paying for links. Many, in fact. Some of them are being more judicious about the signals. And some of the more judicious and some of the wild west methods are still working. So if you`re a gambling sort, or alternately, don`t care about ethics, or the potential harm it can do to a business and the people who rely on that business, then it is something to possibly consider pursuing.
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  Tina Willis: How would the judicious methods be a risk?
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  Alan Bleiweiss: Meanwhile, sites that have been burned by such tactics quite often end up having to come to someone like me, to attempt to salvage their existence, and where it can take years to replace the garbage with sustainable signals. How would "judicious" methods be a risk? Because it`s still against Google terms and policies, and Google continues to work to identify them. And because if I come along and do a site audit, and I find those where Google might not yet be able to detect them, I will burn those sites.
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  Arsen Rabinovich: I might catch some heat for saying this, but it doesn`t matter how you get the link as long as the site that the link lives on is a quality site. A good "rule of thumb" is to look at the target site and ask yourself, is this link going to get clicks? If yes, place it.
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  Alan Bleiweiss: Regarding the "buy a link" model that references Forbes, HuffPo, etc... 93.7891% of those links are WORTHLESS. Why? because they`re on some crappy blogger`s junk, posts, where there are many bloggers who write junk content at places like Forbes and HuffPo, and those pages are, for the most part, themselves not visible anywhere except in the mind of the junk blogger. It`s a con artist business model.
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  Neil Cheesman: short term profit for those selling... and maybe (minimal benefit) for those buying... with the RISK of medium/long-term harm.... to their websites...
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  Steve Wiideman: One of those moments where you want to cover your ears and pretend conversions on link ethics aren`t happening, but can`t because you have something to contribute. It`s outdated, but still has some relevance IF you are putting the best page together for the array of keywords you are targeting. By best I mean most helpful, fastest loading, cross-browser and cross-device compatible ànd most accessible. If so, here`s a link to that old outreach guide: https://www.wiideman.com/pdf/Outreach-Guide.pdf Key approach types in order: 1. Reference 2. Cross-promotion 3. Contribution 4. Sponsorship (w/warnings) Hope you find it helpful, and please do share if you run into people buying links, even the rookies need a lesson once in awhile (despite? how fun one might think it is to watch a noobie get themselves penalized).
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  Neil Cheesman: In my partner`s website niche I see Page 1 top 3 with paid links - and VERY blatant to see... and sites have been there for months...