We took on a client today who has hired us because their site was apparently hit by Penguin, or an unnatural link penalty, or both. Naturally, one of the first things I did was have a gander at their link profile. It is about as spammy as a link profile gets, the majority of their top links coming from paid, spammy, and some completely de-indexed directories.
One of the de-indexed directories had something that caught my eye. Not only did they charge $8/year for a link, they are now charging a one time $20 fee for removing a link!
Of course, I have no choice but to cough up the dough, but goodness gracious. What a scam! This is why the industry has such a tough reputation challenge to overcome. Let’s hope bull-shit like this ends sooner rather than later.