More and more webmasters are taking notice of the reduction in the PR algorithm in relation to backlinks. Google have stated their intensions to crack down on link selling/spamming so that webmasters focus on content creation. Do you think this is the beginning of the end for low quality free links? Or will Google fail? I can see the smaller websites struggling in the future when trying to get some quality links, especially when on a budget.
Well... Google will have hard time with PayPerPost, ReviewMe and other paid blog post type of services - so if Google does something with links.... people will (maybe) more towards paid posting. I think they are losing the battle, but we'll see.
great! Im so sick of webmasters coming on the boards spouting off PR this PR that. maybe webmasters will start to realize you need unique content with legitimate promotions to succeed in todays Web. As far as link building. I havnt seen any difference in the methods I use to rank pages via link building. All this talk from google, but no walk.
Battle against whom? They always could moderate their SERPS manually I don't see how they could loose battle. If people needs to find something at the Internet they could search for it or use directory or search Wikipedia.
I dont think that links are less important to google now. Its the main parameter that google consider and i think it wont change for a long time. I know it's unfair. Some weak pages are higher in serps because their owners have more $$$ on promotion while really good sites made as hobby and carrying good content are forgiven. Maybe one day google will improve algorithms that it all be fair. Now we have to borrow money and count on that it will be returned somehow peace
Its so true, but unfortunatly by doing so they are making PR valuable to a webmaster. For instance when selling high PR links for lots of $$$.
Yes! I also suffered because of this as I first started out my site about freewebhosting All the others were ahead of me as they had Good PR but content in the same way But I organised the content in different way but it was of no use I think Google cannot improve algorithims only they can penalize the websites which gain a quite a high no of links within a few months! Also since Google's search technology is about 75% based on page rank it is difficult for Google to move away from it
its certain types of link that are being devalued. directory links and obvious paid links are already devalued, look at the sites of the people who have complained that their sites have lost PR during the current update,
It has been close to two years since I noticed crap links like reciprical and free-for-all directories not helping sites much in the serps ...with having too many of them flagging you as being spammy. Eventually they won't help at all.
IMHO, I think PR is still important if link building is done correctly. If you totally don't care about PR any more but still rely on SERPs at Google, it doesn't really make sense. "Content is king" is just another extreme. Need a balance, I think. PR was their method of ranking web sites at SERPs. In the future, Google may drop the whole PR system. Till then I think link building is still the main SEO. I've been very successful at it, so no complaining here.
Agreed with @coolsitez. Balance is needed. There must be rhythm between all aspects, on-page seo, link building, meta tags, traffic, and what not. If you have unique content but no back link...no traffic...waste in google eye. So, have unique and useful content. Let the people link to you. you come forward and ask for back links. Make it useful and interesting...traffic will comes in. Do on-page and off-page seo on keyword focus...you'll get ranks and hence traffic and hence....what is site ment for.
Well most websites have to get linkbacks to get good rankings and pr, it would take a lot of time before google can actually crackdown on reciprocal and paid link building .
It seems like link building is getting tougher in the short term but if you build links over a year, they pay off in the end and sites seem to do very well with or without PR.
yes you are correct the best example is www.directorydump.com which has a huge no of back links from PR sites but it has not been updated yet!