Oops. I only just noticed the date on this question! Sorry folks...

Agreed. However, it might be worth adding that reciprocal links can also look natural but only if they form a small part of your link profile.

Whatever you do, Jay, dont add a page called links or resources. Make sure the links are contextual links in the content of article's or content.

My way around doing this is putting them in the testimonials pages on my sites

A good example would be when I managed to get a link from Sky.com - in return they requested a link back to their site and I would be silly not to have provided one. I didn't want the link for the juice, I wanted it for the click through's. The reason I'm saying this is to show that not all reciprocal links are seen as un-natural.

Yeah I know, I read the full forum thread... Im not sure what you mean?

Edit: Do you mean your post was not about the actual site it effected but more about Negative SEO? If so, we understand that, thats why we said it was scary. We were just pointing out the other issues in the forum thread.

Oh absolutely, the backlinks generated from the story will make it worthwhile. Not sure if it was intended but it will benefit the site in the long run Im sure. Also, they did state a few times that his website was non-profit so it certainly wont hurt his lifestyle.

Yeah I think that thread will be closely watched by big G... Probably not something to boast about on an online forum. However, he definitely knows his stuff so fair play to him - he has thought about it in great detail.

Definitely. I think that example was way OTT and not needed for most websites. I think it looks like it would be pretty easy for small businesses with smaller websites.

Unfortunately there seems to be plenty of to55ers around. It worry's me that some people have no remorse... It could mean jobs lots and life's destroyed! Shame on Google!

Scary stuff indeed...

I don't care how effective it may or may not be, I could never do this to a competitor... My motto would always be to beat them on merit and not cheating.

I have no doubt that this currently works but I also have no doubt that Google will close the loophole and instead of devaluing a website for "un-natural links" it will simply ignore the links - it is only a matter of time.

Lets cross our fingers that we don't have immoral competitors until that time comes.