InLinks makes it a bit tougher to trust everything you read online

Bloggers and web publishers looking for a quick way to make some cash have long turned to advertisers willing to pay for text links on their web sites. Some text links hang out in a section of a web site clearly labeled as sponsored links. But others have a way of making their way into the body of a post, where they look like any other link on a web page. But typically when you scroll over a text ad placed by an advertising service like Vibrant Media, you'll see a pop up which makes it clear that you're looking at an ad and not necessarily a relevant link placed by the author of the article you're reading.

Now there's a new ad service called InLinks which automates the process of placing in-text links that don't look like ads on a web site. While this may come as good news for a handful of advertisers and web publishers who want to resort to this tactic, if the practice catches on, it could erode people's willingness to click any links at all. After all, if you can't tell the difference between a relevant text link and an ad, there's a good chance you'll err on the side of ignoring all the links.

On the other hand, the inLinks example image shown above leads me to believe that it won't be that tough to spot the fake links on a web site. After all, what blogger would really bother placing a legitimate link under the words "gadget" or "widget?"

What do you think? Is InLinks providing a useful service that will help bloggers make money, or is the company ruining the internet for the rest of us?

[via ProBlogger]

Tags: advertising, inlinks, text-ads