It means my small sites can compete with the big boys that have huge budgets....Now we are somewhat on the same playing field and we all have to earn our links the old fashion way
It's a good point of view, and I would be happy if Google could detect all paid links without exception. But the thing is that it can't, it only detects the paid links of some websites that are more obvious while others that have in text, blog links remain undiscovered. With a big budget you can continue to make a name for yourself on the Internet, so nothing much has changed. More over, I think that us, the little website owners are disadvantaged by the fact that we have been denied to sell links and get some extra revenue out of it.
Most people seem to complain about this update. For me all my ranks have gone up (was pr0, meh) and some of the bigger companies with bigger websites are losing out which is also good. People of big websites and big wallets are going to have to think creatively again into how they will try and get visitors. Not just by spending loads of cash and letting the people roll in.
In a way I see it as a bad thing for the smaller bloggers because its harder to get natural links when you're unknown. I never thought a few paid links here and there were a bad thing. Most bloggers are only trying to get their blog seen by more people
through all that has gone on my sites PR have gone up and my rankings have remained unchanged....link buying has never been a big part of my seo campaings...I try to come of with creative ideas for people to link to my sites
Sorry to break the news to you seo ranter but the palying field will never be level. There are still 100's of MFA sites ripping off the little guy of all his potential revenue and visitors. Again don't be fooled, they might have had a little green juice taken out but they are doing no worse, making lots of cash with tons of visitors.... Plus these big guys with loads of cash can still spend their big money on adwords and banner advertising to bring in 1000's of visitors. Plus you have to remember, punishing a few dozen sites selling links is not going to affect the 490,000 other sites doing it.
as i remember in the past from your posts i dont think you are so (naive) is the word i think?to believe that this will hit big guys with tons of money..!!!
They can always go to adwords....If they do that I don't care, they are legitimately paying for advertising.... And I'm sure they will be affected....purchasing those homepage links on newspaper and authority sites do wonders for their rankings and trust with google....if that is somehow discounted, then it is good for me who couldn't afford those links in the first place.
I have a site that dropped from pr4 to pr2 but im very happy. I hate all the selling links from pr4 or pr5 sites etc. Lets get back to websites that have the important things...Traffic, revenue and content
Yes, and they came from jg123. He has quite the habit of handing out negative reputation for entertainment value and because it makes him feel important somehow. I've been one of his targets, and so have many other DP posters. Part of the reason he does it is for fun. But a large part of why this post has attracted his ire is that he makes his money as a spammy link broker, and your thread threatens him.
google has only downgraded sites that already had a high PR i believe, so those who have a low PR and went up, yes its a good thing but as soon as you reach the PR5 zone or higher, and if you have your link on paid directories or your selling links, say goodbye to your PR5 sooner or later.
Yes this is a good think. Some of my websites pr's has gone up. ANd I have no paid links. Hooray For Hollywood!!!
My directory went from a 2 to a 3 on this update. Don't forget word of mouth also brings in a lot of traffic. The big boy's will be back eventually. Just a little vacation they got. I have seen a lot of directories being promoted on adwords. A few i have already bought links from in the past. Doesn't bother me one bit and didn't hurt my directory. They are still strong directories in my book.
As has already been mentioned this will hardly level the playing field between those who have the money and those who don't. In fact, in many cases it may do exactly the opposite. Being able to sell some links was a way small cash-less bloggers and web masters could get some funding to support what they do and grow. Adsense doesn't work for everyone because it is pay per click. Text link ads sold not because of clicks, but because of helping someone increase their site's overall link popularity (PR or no PR, Google is not the only one to whom this matters). That said, the ONLY thing Google may hope to achieve by penalizing link selling is *relatively* better quality of results, but there are so many variables involved in this that it is probably going to be hard to tell the difference. Since link selling and buying is basically a two-way thing benefiting both buyers and sellers, big and small, new and established and is actually sold for getting ranks in *relevant* keywords, it is probably not the biggest thing affecting the actual quality of results. However it is easy for Google to go down that road because, guess what, link selling and buying is their competition. People who fund themselves using text link ads don't have to rely on adsense all the time. People buying TLA don't rely on adwords all the time. So what does Google do? They ban the competition, so to speak, under the justification of "better quality results" and "fairness". In truth, we'll barely see any better quality results and things wont really be any fairer than they already were. So all that's left is Google and it's anti-competitive practice. That said, don't forget Google doesn't run the world and sure as hell doesn't run our sites. Just as easily as everyone started obsessing and relying on PageRank they could stop caring at all, especially when it becomes so unpredictable and out of place within the context of other things like actual traffic, SERPS etc and especially considering that competition, like Yahoo and Windows Live, is still very much alive. Cheers