Paid One-way Links:

Paid one-way links are the other form of one-way links. Quality links can be bought or rented at authoritative websites with high PageRanks. In top directories, links can also be bought so that the site gets a higher placement in both the directory and the SERPs.The advantage of buying one-way links is that the site gets better preferences in the directories. If the directories are totally paid directories, then the site is even more benefited because paid directories tend to have less number of sites in each category, hence there is a little bit of chance that the PageRank would be diluted.Of course, increases in PageRank, authority, weight and value and link popularity are obviously there. Paid links can also be used to improve rankings in SERPs. With all these advantages, paid links are no more major targets for search engine optimizers. This is because of the recent declaration by Google that paid links should be reported.Since Google controls 56% of the internet marketing and searches today, the declaration has become a biblical statement. Hence paid links are looked upon as taboos by the white-hat optimizers. Google spokesmen Adam Lasnik and Matt Cutts, in this case, have stated that buying links from high PR sites to draw link juice is being considered as spam and hence spamming should be banned. Although few types of paid links are still clean, most of them have been identified as spam.

Hence, paid links have lost their value as a weapon in search wars. Paid links can also prove to be a burden on the marketing budget of a company. Prices vary from directory to directory and that merged with the cost of a PPC campaign can turn out to be a financial burden. As for example, Yahoo! charges $299 for review before inclusion and there is a chance that a site might get rejected.Thus, even if paid links were an important part of an online marketing strategy before, now they have been devaluated especially after the declaration by Google