BizSugar.com › Online Marketing › When Is a Paid Link Not Black Hat?

Google says in their Webmaster Guidelines that “Buying or selling links that pass PageRank is in violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines and can negatively impact a site’s ranking in search results.” However, right in the next paragraph they admit that “Buying and selling links is a normal part of the economy of the web when done for advertising purposes, and not for manipulation of search results. Links purchased for advertising should be designated as such.” Obviously your PPC campaigns and banner ads aren’t black hat link building tactics, but what about links that aren’t purchased for advertising? What about all the directories you paid $25 for a lifetime link; what about the industry associations you joined for $1000 a year to get listed in their member directory; what about the advertorial you ran on an industry blog? Are those paid links black hat?