It can become an issue if you’re a business owner with a website that has been around for a while showing generic, gradual growth that suddenly explodes. Google and other major search engines frown on “bought” links. It is possible to have the weight of your links disregarded if done too quickly. While Google doesn’t have a sentry standing guard for every site to make sure you aren’t cheating the system – and I agree that it’s not extremely common to get slapped by them for having a raging campaign – in many instances it’s always better to play it safe and make sure that your link building campaign will show gradual steps in organic traffic.

While it may be uncommon to get blacklisted in Google for running a rapid link campaign (more common if its spammy), you can rest assured that if you post quality links and have a gradual increase in traffic it will never happen.

In my view the surest way to get delisted is to post tons of spammy content on your site, not so much in offsite links.

When you consider it, the scenario you painted, if it were strictly true, would enable any jealous competitor to sabotage an existing site’s ranking simply by hiring black hat SEO practitioners to do their worst. Imagine the lawsuits that Google would be embroiled in if there were documented instances of this happening! Do you know of any?

Please don’t interpret my remarks as condoning or encouraging black hat practices. I don’t. But I don’t think the consequences of rapid link building are as dire as you suggest.