Is there any truth in Google penalizing ads

[Mr. Pink]

I just want to get a real answer on this issue.

Some people tell me that Google will penalize a site that sells ads directly to other sites. I am not talking about selling links and putting those links into existing text. I am talking about putting a few individual text ads on the side of a page where they look like obvious ads or sponsor links.

I am told that Google penalizes for that. I don't believe that is true, but I still want to know for sure.

Is there any truth in that?

[Chris]

Sorta...

An advertisement done in a standard link that does not have rel=nofollow is technically against their guidelines and may result in a devaluation of the link weight flowing through that link.

In egregious cases (a human decision, not a computerized one) Google may decide to penalize the linking site, but in general they won't, they'll just devalue the link.

[Mr. Pink]

Ah, I see the logic.

I am constantly approached by folks that ask me to put links into my existing text. In other words, to just link a specific keyword to their sites. This always strikes me as spammy, because my visitors don't even know they will be taken to another site until the click on the link.

I decline such requests for the reason outlined above and also because I am assuming that kind of link appearance would get me penalized.

Is my thinking on this correct?

[Chris]

Yes, I for one am open to such offers though. But I have very stringent editorial guidelines (i will not link just any text, it has to make sense) and I am also not cheap and they don't want to pay for my quality or my prices.