The "This Post is Sponsored By Google" debarcle

January 2012 – a time for smart a$$ digital experts to make their predictions of what lies ahead in this constantly changing landscape. We all assume that Facebook, Google and Twitter all know what they’re doing in guiding the major direction of digital innovation. However, who could have predicted that Google Chrome would have been pulled up for arranging a paid links programme? Well, it was only one followed text link but this news has spread so quickly that internet policeman Matt Cutts was forced to act and make a statement.

Google.com have given the Chrome subdomain a public 60 day ban and state that they will have the same rules enforced on them as any other webmaster. Clean up your link footprint and put in a reconsideration request.

Whether it was an intended PR exercise or not, Google’s paid links message remains consistent and they’ve dealt with it well. And the message to anyone with a website that is crucial to their business? Basically if your link footprint is ever manually scrutinised in this way then you have to be 100% squeaky clean in terms of adhering to Google Webmaster Guidelines.

Blog posts have been the high volume linking strategy for thousands of search agencies – in 2012 this could change to precent cluttering up the internet with boring content.

In a year where talk is about G+, changing search engine results pages, Facebook timelines, Twitter’s new look and check in developments it is funny that in week one Google have got a Google ban.