Originally Posted by bagold
Just wondering how does google ranking work? Is it based on popular hits? Can one pay google to be placed on the top of the search rankings?
Are the third party companies that promise that your keywords on your site will be on the top of the search rankings actually just hitting your site a lot or do the third party companies actually pay google?
You can pay to get in the sponsored links section at the top or the ads on the right. Otherwise you can't pay to get there.
One simple test--are the companies in question at the top of the list when you search for them? My attempt produced a sponsored link but the rest of them weren't such sites. Conclusion: It doesn't work.