I have been in this industry for pretty much the same amount of time as Merlin and I totally understand what he is saying and can understand his frustration. It seems to be a losing battle staying honest in this industry and not being tempted to give way to all the spammy techniques when you find that your clean white hat techniques are no longer working.
However, Having said that I have always believed and will always believe that honesty and keeping your nose clean will prevail in the long term.
I have never really followed Google or even kept an eye on the progress of our keywords, and maybe if I had done – I may have higher positions on most of my sites, but I just plod along in my ignorance and find that in this instance ignorance is bliss because I don’t get depressed when I see a sudden drop in a sites rankings – why? Because I never knew what it was before the drop!!
Some may say this is sheer stupidity and how can I operate a business like this…but I have to say that I have been making a 5 figure income for a good 7 years of the 10 years or so I have been in the business, so I guess whatever I am doing I must be getting something right.
Granted – Maybe I could be doubling this income if I followed all of google’s algo changes and panda, penguin updates – but I also believe in the pendulum aspect – In one update I may lose out on some sites and gain on others and this is often turned around in the next update.
Granted I do have a lot of sites so can afford to lose positions on some – if you only have one or 2 sites – I agree – it can be a huge problem to lose rankings.
I don’t have the answers but I still believe there is a future in this industry for serious affiliates who maintain a good clean site, and are in it for the long run.