Every reputable website marketing firm or consultant knows that links should not come from a link farm, especially since Google came up with the Panda update. There are still those, however, who insist on trying to get around it.
Recently, a member of a forum I belong to created a thread because he had a problem. He had created a link wheel two months ago, and has not been getting results in the SERP's for two months, and he wanted to know how to fix the problem. Another member also created a thread where he asked, "what is a link wheel?".
Let's answer the second question first. A link wheel, also called a link ring, is a group of websites created for the express purpose of sending links to each other. Each website would send a link to one of the other websites, in addition to a link to the main website. As a result, the main website would receive several links, and, theoretically, rise in the SERP's. But there is one problem. According to Google's Webmaster Guidelines, "some webmasters engage in link exchange schemes and build partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking, disregarding the quality of the links, the sources, and the long-term impact it will have on their sites. This is in violation of Google's Webmaster Guidelines and can negatively impact your site's ranking in search results.".
The reason for the first member's problem, which I pointed out to him, is simple - he violated Google's Terms Of Service two months ago, and two months later, he got caught.
So how does he solve the problem? By making sure his content is fresh, and informative to visitors, and by using legitimate techniques to build links. The best places to get links from are articles, blog entries,etc., and, when appropriate, press releases.
Some "experts" may insist they know how to use black -hat techniques so that Google doesn't know what they re doing, but there's a simple answer to that as well. If you don't want Google to know what you are doing, don't do it!
