Google keeps on changing its algorithms and policies regarding link building and link exchange. This time around, in their updated link schemes document under the Webmaster guidelines, Google has included large-scale guest posting , advertorials, and links in distributed articles/press releases/products to be in violation of their policies. This new development is among the stream of other changes Google has made so far this year, and seems to be an alarming one. Because not only will it apply to large scale guest posting and press releases, it will also apply to sites sharing free widgets, plugins, and templates, and then linking to themselves in those products. UPDATE: This article was updated in 2017 to include latest link building policy by Google. These new policies include three major types of backlinks. Links generated from large-scale guest posting and article marketing, links generated from advertorials and native advertisements, and links in distributed articles/news relea