A response to the article - A look into the purpose of Google’s “PageRank update” – SEW - (search engine watch)
It should come as no surprise inbound links have a direct influence on keyword rankings. By definition, PageRank is a link analysis algorithm that assigns numerical weighting to each element of a hyperlinked set of documents, with the purpose of measuring its relative importance within the set. In its simplest terms, a link from site A to site B is considered a vote, the more votes a site/page receives, the greater its value. Keep in mind the hypertext used as a link also contributes value and could be described as the ‘candidate’ for whom you are voting for.
- For example: if site A has a link to site B and the hypertext used is “great gift ideas”, site A is voting for site B with the hope that site B will rank higher for the term “great gift ideas”.
PageRank is at the core of Google’s natural search algorithm and is the reason why Google became the market leader it is today – by providing unbiased, yet highly relevant search results based on an algorithmic principle to define relevancy without human intervention.
So When Did It All go Wrong?
Shortly after Lawrence (or Larry) Page’s US patent titled “A Method for Node Ranking in a Linked Database” was granted & published in 2001, SEO experts, both white and black hatters began dissecting and ultimately exploiting the mathematic equation that is PageRank. Witness the birth of reciprocal linking, link farms and eventually paid linking or the act of paying for an outbound link using the keyword of choice.
As more and more webmasters became aware of the power of linking, the number of sites offering paid links continued to multiply. Companies like Text Link Ads and Text link Brokers sought to organize linking opportunities by aggregating potential link partners (publishers) into a database to allow advertisers to select placements based on topical relevance. All was right, all were happy, all but Google.
In an effort to combat paid linking efforts Google launched their ‘tell on someone’ campaign by allowing webmaster or general Google users to submit a paid link report. With this information Google would then manual remove ‘link juice’ being passed from site to site.
Did It Work? What Came Next?
As you can imagine, no one flinched at the paid link snitch report offered by Google’s web quality team and the use of paid linking continued to increase year over year. Enter October 26th, 2007, Google releases a PageRank update that is specifically aimed at lowering the PR value of sites accused of selling links. Small, medium and larger publishers were disciplined including washingtonpost.com, engadget.com & forbes.com. On average, sites were punished with a 2-3 point decrease in PageRank. In addition, many sites may have indirectly noticed a slight decline in PageRank due to a cascading effect – for instance site A may have had 2 links from site B which benefited from several paid links from sites X & Z (which coincidently received a PR decrease for selling paid links). The fear continues to spread.
What Does this All Mean?
First off, I am happy to report there have been no drastic declines in traffic or rankings for sites that participated in paid linking either directly or indirectly since Google’s recent attempt to thwart paid linking. Surprisingly, Google did not restrict the value of the inbound link they simply lowered the PageRank value which by today’s SEO standards, is considered overrated and outdated. Fear tactic?
Well consider the fact that many link brokers are now struggling to maintain inventory due to a mass exodus of publishers who have decided to do away with offering paid links; it appears Google’s constituents have gotten the message.
On the other hand, some brokers are reporting an increase in link demand since many of the suppliers have abandoned their advertisers, contributing to a rising cost for paid links.
It is my opinion paid linking will continue to flourish; the cat is out of the bag and has been since 2001. So long as the intent of purchasing links is in the interest of driving more qualified users to your site how can an advertisement be considered evil? How does a paid link placement differ from a banner ad, a TV commercial or to some extent a press release?
If Google really wanted to eliminate paid links they would have removed the ‘link juice’ value and not simply lower PageRank. More importantly, if Paid linking is considered a violation of Google’s guidelines – why are text link brokers still able to purchase keywords such as “paid links” via Adwords? (Avg. CPC for the term ‘paid links’ is $1.47 - $1.98)
