DISQUS

Mathew's comments: Google uses the PageRank hammer

  • Tom · 2 years ago
    Can't say we didn't see this coming. I have no problem with advertising, but I agree that advertisers should not be able to buy any sort of device that increases their ranking above sites that produce content of a better quality. After (subconsciously?) ignoring the issue for a while, I finally decided where I stand and withdrew my site from Text Link Ads a while ago.
  • Jim Kukral · 2 years ago
    "It’s Google’s Web — we’re just living in it."

    How true is that M?
  • Mathew · 2 years ago
    We may or may not like it, Jim, but I think it's pretty true.
  • Liza Sabater · 2 years ago
    Welcome to my world. I have been writing for years about how the Google Gestapo has been harrassing me, from questioning my content (I right about feminist issues and am rabidly pro-choice) to the validity of the TLAds I'm running alongside GoogleAds.

    You can find my articles at http://culturekitchen.com
  • HellYeahDude! · 2 years ago
    Yes, this is a bummer for real!
    Google owns us, lets get used it.
  • db · 2 years ago
    Matt , I even kind of afraid to post anything incase Google tracks back my address and bans me from the search results, cuts off my power, freezes my bank account and publishes those photos I want hidden away all over Google Streetview. Yikes.
  • Liza Sabater · 2 years ago
    poke fun all you want but the truth is they even have boilerplate non-responses at the ready to people's complaints about their demands. i'll have to scavenge for those through my inbox and post them.
  • Blogging tips from mcrilf · 2 years ago
    This is one of the reasons why SEO isn't the be-all and end-all of getting people to your site. People who are too overly reliant on traffic from Google will someday fall foul of their whims. Thanks to the web2 revolution, engaging in the social web (ie the communities around your subject niche) is now more important than trying to please Google with a perfectly SEO'd website.
  • cremeschnitte · 2 years ago
    google owns us? thats a bit hard. And I don't understand the whole PR discussion. A couple of websites have been downgraded but it seems there this fact doesn't influence traffic at all! What is PR good for? It's in indication for the amounts of links pointing to a site, that's it. I bet that a couple of google friends could even make a PR10 site with just crap content on it. Everyone knows since months (maybe even years) that PR looses his importance.
  • carbuzzard · 2 years ago
    Traffic will continue at a site whose PR has dropped because the site has a certain momentum from repeat traffic. On the other hand, it will be harder for those sites to attract new visitors, so while for a larger site losing PR isn't fatal, it ain't a good thing either.