Adult site operator CyberQuest has disavowed a round of adult blogs which used cross-linking to inflate Google page ranks for three CyberQuest sites, saying the blogs were an affiliate’s unauthorized project.
CyberQuest owner Fade Saab could not be reached for comment by AVNOnline.com, but he was quoted as telling Wired he wasn’t even aware of the cross-link strategy until August 4, saying further that he believed it the work of a Canadian affiliate partner.
“I wouldn’t allow it,” Saab told the magazine. “This kind of thing isn’t helpful to our business. It makes us look bad. We try to run a clean business, even though we’re not in the cleanest of businesses.”
Saab told Wired he demanded the affiliate pull any links to the CyberQuest sites and any images from the sites, and he also said he would probably try to reclaim any profits the cross-link strategy gained the affiliate.
Blogspot, the blog host operated by blogging software pioneer Blogger.com, pulled down at least three of the cross-linked sites as soon as it became public that they had used the cross-link technique earlier this week. Google, which bought Blogger, said they were taking down as many such blogs as they could, saying they violated the Blogger terms of service.
Reaction to the cross-linkings ranged from those who thought it was a cheap bid to market the CyberQuest sites to those who thought it a clever marketing ploy.
