PageRank Paid Links Smack Down Update

Part of the Kenno's Blog series.
By Ken Brown
Editor, You Can Learn Series
Updated: December 9, 2007

I couldn't stop laughing on Tuesday after reading a post by randfish on his SEOmoz blog. He has come up with a solution to the paid links debate. Seriously, it was the dumbest idea I have read about. Why do I think it is so dumb? Because it is still paid links.

Rand's great idea is to create something called Sponsored Editorials. According to Rand, webmasters would pay money to have someone review their website. The people reviewing the website can do one of three things.

Not review the website and keep the money
Review the website, and if they like it they link with a nofollow tag.
Review the website and if they LOVE it then they link with dofollow.

Now in Rand's defense I have a lot of respect for him. He is 10 times the business man I am. His knowledge on SEO is greater than my own. He has accomplished in two years many times more than I have accomplished in four. So, I hope he doesn't take this personally. I apologize if this offends him.

Google is Smacking Down Paid Text Link Ads

Isn't Google smacking down Paid Text Links? Isn't this a paid link? Yes, it is. Whether you call it editorial voting, sponsored editorials, paid reviews or whatever; in the end it is still a paid link. This is the same thing as USA Today website having something called a marketplace. What is the marketplace? A paid link. Does Google think that USAToday has nothing better to do than link to just some of the millions of companies out in the world wide web? Ha.

Web Directories Don't Have Nofollow

I was surfing the web today and began looking at web directories. Guess what? There are still web directories that don't have nofollow on their links. And yet they are still getting a nice green PR image on their Google toolbar.

How about a Link Exchange Program?

Do you want to skate around the paid links issue? Would you agree that if you paid a company to run a link exchange program for you that those links really are paid links? Did someone come to your website and like the content or want to link to a specific article? Then they placed your link on their website. No, it is a paid link. If you have the money you can still buy your way to high Page Rank. Because Google is very selective about how they are applying the paid links smack down. Google is not smacking link exchange programs.

I receive on average 3 requests for link exchanges everyday. Many weeks I will receive 2 or 3 from the same link exchange company for their different clients. Well, I don't exchange links any more. I am willing to link to an article of interest. An article that so excites me that I want to include it in one of my articles. All of my paid links now get the rel=nofollow. I am sorry advertisers. I bow to the masters of Google.

Page Rank Indicator = Zero

It's funny, because when the first Google Paid Links Smackdown occurred, my page rank toolbar indicator had moved from a PR 4 to a PR 3. I thought okay, I will change my advertiser's links to include the nofollow tag. Well all was well and good, or so I thought. But, then out of the blue, Google changed my Page rank indicator to ZERO. Now, that was just mean. Why did they do that?

I have this page that I created last year called an Advertiser's Detail Page. This page I created to add a little extra value to companies that advertised with me. The advertisers were giving me a 50 character text link ad and some cash (very little cash at that). And I would place their paid text link ads in the appropriate page. Then I added a little something extra by writing a large paragraph detailing the website as I saw and interpreted the website. Sometimes I would just repeat a paragraph from the website; others I gave a small review. The paragraphs represented my opinion of the website. That opinion was not paid. I volunteered to write the review.

I had ended that program in April of this year, but I had guaranteed to the advertisers that I would leave the opinion piece up for an entire year. Well I have a link for the page on my home page. And the link anchor title is Advertisers Detail Page. It is pretty obvious that the page is devoted to my advertisers. Well, since I am discontinuing the page after the requisite year is finished I really didn't even think about adding nofollow tags to the page.

Pay to Build More Websites

Now my page rank is ZERO. I am pretty sure I have identified all my other advertisers. You know those Paid Text Link Ads I have on my website that earn me 3 times more than what I get from Google AdSense ads. But, now I don't know if I should be scared of Google or just pissed off. I really don't know why my page rank went down. Did someone report me? Matt Cutts from Google wrote an article asking webmasters to report websites that engage in paid text link ads. He warned that Google was going to do something to them.

The interesting thing to me is the whole goal is to stop people who are trying to game the system. But, the problem isn't just about Paid Text Link Ads. There are still other ways to game the system. You just have to have time or money.

If you have money then just build more websites. Place content on the site that matches your primary website's content without duplication. Then just point all your link juice to your primary website. Michael Martinez details this strategy in a recent post on his blog. You can read more about Using Multiple Domains to Build Page Rank. One thing about Michael Martinez and his SEO Theory website, sometimes he uses so much sarcasm that you get drenched in it. So be careful as you read his post.

I am actually aware of companies that earn millions of dollars that engage in this behavior. The little guy cannot compete with the big companies. Google gives the little guy something that he can turn into cash like the Green Tool Bar. He can sell that perceived influence and earn more money the higher it goes. Then Google comes along and Smacks down the little guy who is trying to make enough money to run his website and keep his equipment updated.

Pay Someone to Blog for You

Let's see. If you pay a company to advertise on their site and they don't use nofollow then they are bad. But, it is okay to hire 1, 3, 5 or 100 people to blog for you. Maybe they just leave comments on other blogs. Maybe they have their own blog and write articles that reference your website. Maybe they are friends with other websites and just ask them to review your website or to comment about your latest article. Is that the kind of reference that Google is looking for to build their Page Rank Algorithm? Aren't these companies still just trying to game the system?

Now, who engages in this kind of behavior? How about White Hat SEOs. I know they do it. I have read blogs by their employees saying they do this specific behavior. Now the blog I read I know Matt Cutts from Google reads the blog. How do I know that? Because Matt Cutts commented on the blog just this week. Therefore Google must be aware this activity is occurring. When are they going to smack this behavior?

Forget Google Search Traffic - Go for Direct Traffic

I was totally amazed this week when I read two blogs and found out that both of them get most of their traffic from direct links. The majority of their traffic does NOT come from Google or the other search engines. In fact, they get more direct traffic than the visitors from all the search engines combined. Wow!

You see, most of my traffic comes from the search engines. In fact, most of my traffic comes from Google. I am at their mercy. But, I am learning. When I first started in this industry, I thought the goal was to get good old fashioned natural and organic traffic. Traffic from searches. But, now I see the errors of my ways. I am beginning to reach out like the search engine spiders and leave comments and visit forums. I am interacting with others. I am trying to get involved in the community.

That's how you do it. You become an active member of communities and then people will check on you. They will click on your name on a blog comment and see who you are and what you do and how you write. I know Caroline Middlebrook has it figured out. Check out her stats analysis for November.

I guess I am done ranting and raving for now. I think I have irritated enough people that my job is done. The truth is after this article I will probably be sent back to the infamous Google sandbox (similar to the hotbox from Steve McQueen's prison movie, Cool Hand Luke). Direct traffic is the answer. That will eliminate your reliance on the Google Cocaine.