[Google] has said that it penalizes some, but not all, vertical search engines because they are essentially spam, gathering content and links from other sites to generate traffic and ad revenue.
I thought this line was funny. Thinking about pots and kettles and the color black, etc.
If your site requires Google search hits in order to be profitable, then you're hosed anyhow. Why can't these folks rely on word-of-mouth like the rest of us do?