If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Although the longer I'm in the game the less I consider SERP as a measure. Traffic coming from long-tail keywords is always 50-100 times bigger than for the main keyword, so the question is - do they get the traffic with link wheels?
Well, even the company's own website got tanked past penguin update along with a huge percentage of clients. A lot of our clients including our own site were all over page 1 in SERP for many k/w before tanking. My boss said that we fixed it by adding new domains but what is the point of adding new domains and interlink it with the network Google has already discovered and hit. IMO, I think it is just a matter of time before new batch of clients get hit.
Note: Percentage of non-performing campaign has risen dramatically after last hit.
And I couldn't agree with you more on using SERP as a measure/KPI in the industry. I tend to think more about converting traffic.
To answer your question: No, I do not think they get traffic from the link wheels. Very badly written English (by Philippino writers) - None provide any real value to readers from strictly 300 words (+/- 10%) 1000+ articles within ~200 domains --- I went through most articles within the network when I discovered it from backtracking.
If you think you can do it better why are you working for the company? Go start your own service.
In the process of that, at least I can provide real value-adding service in terms of marketing and branding to the customers with legit SEO & local SEO.
I have limited experience in off-site optimization but bhw has taught me a lot of stuff and now that I am confident when compared what I can do against the link wheel network. I am able to map out all of their network.
PS. the company keeps the network so secretive because Directors(owner) think that it is the best out there and stuff keywords + hiding H1 exact matched kw behind pictures .
Moarrr notes: Directors found this company with a background of being SEO Sales/Account manager for one of the bigger agencies and watched how people do SEO back in 2009 - I think they're obviously stuck during those time frame.
