Dirty Little Pennies, Google Algorithm And BlackHat SEO

It looks like the first failed and the second works. The third, BlackHat SEO worked for a while and failed when it was discovered.
I just finished reading an article on NYTimes on Dirty Little Search Secrets, directed to by a tweet by Google Spam Guru Matt Cutts. Blackhat SEO, can backfire sometimes, like it did in the case of J.C.Penny;

J.C.Penny has managed to come through with $17.8 Billion dollars of holiday sales, for the first time since 2001. So even though Penny denies it, experts think the blackhat SEO helped J.C.Penny amass some cash through link love. Links that can bring you up in the Google searches, back down when Google or it's algorithms detect the fact. J.C. Penney just experienced both;

   At 7 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, J. C. Penney was still the No. 1 result for “Samsonite carry on luggage.”

    Two hours later, it was at No. 71.

    At 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Penney was No. 1 in searches for “living room furniture.”

    By 9 p.m., it had sunk to No. 68.

    In other words, one moment Penney was the most visible online destination for living room furniture in the country.

    The next it was essentially buried.

It is a very good article, 5 pages long with a lot of information.

NYTimes.