Michael Martinez, a frequent commenter here, posted a $1,000 reward for someone in the SEO industry to provide a clear 100% positive proof with evidence that links work to rank sites in Google.

His rules are clear:

A test that any SEO of any experience or competence can use
A test that works 100% of the time.
A test that proves to any reasonable person that an existing link IS or IS NOT passing value.
A test that works with ALL links, not just links with unique anchor text.
A test that can be performed in 10 minutes or less.

But are the rules achievable? Michael thinks not and many SEOs think not as well. And Michael is so confident, he is willing to put $1,000 of his own cash on the line to prove it (or disprove it).

You have until June 30, 2011 to prove it.

There is one forum thread discussing this contest, it is at Cre8asite Forums and I wanted to highlight one comment from administrator Ron Carnell:

Up for the challenge? Details over here.

Forum discussion at Cre8asite Forums.