Google PageRank vs. Text-Link-Ads

The legend continues. Kottke reports:

There are indications that Google is changing their PageRank algorithm, possibly to penalize sites running paid links or too many cross-promotional links across blog networks. Affected sites include Engadget, Forbes, and Washington Post. Even Boing Boing, which I think had been at 9, is down to 7.

I personally make about three times as much money per month from Text-Link-Ads than I do from AdSense. But Google’s search ranking algorithm has virtual control over how much traffice I receive per month, and the valuation of my links within the TLA advertising system (which is based - at least in part - on Google PR).

I have emailed Patrick Gavin, CEO of TLA, and asked him to publicly respond to this situation. I assume he will do so on his Link Building Blog. To me, this may be the beginning of the end for Google: It feels like they are attacking their customers and fan base, not to mention perfectly legitimate uses of their services, which fall well within their Terms of Service. I would email Google too about this, but they never really write back to me when I send them challenging letters (which I have in the past!).

UPDATE! Thinking this through further: Google PageRank is the best working example we probably have right now of an information-based alternative currency (which in effect determines financial worth of websites). The fact that there are no real close competitors to Google gives them an insane degree of control over everyone else’s ability to make money off of technology. This needs to be rectified and fast with real world technological solutions and alternatives.


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This entry was written by enjoying autumn, posted on October 25, 2007 at 5:26 pm.

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One Comment

  1. Tim Boucher
    Posted October 25, 2007 at 5:28 pm | Permalink

    See also:

    http://www.dailyblogtips.com/google-changing-the-pagerank-algorithm/

    And numerous comments and posts about it on that site.

    After reading through the avalanche of posts on the subject, it appears that this is not a PageRank update but rather a distribution of penalties (either automatic or manual). The theory that the penalized blogs were either selling links or part of a network that used a cross-linking strategy seems to hold.

    So in effect, web sites are not allowed to link to one another in a concerted way without being penalized? Smart move Google!

2 Trackbacks

  1. By PageRank and Google-Dependent Economics - Top Occultu]re on October 27, 2007 at 5:26 pm

    [...] By all appearances, Google has cut PageRank valuation by up to 2 points in some cases on websites which are either (1) selling paid text links (through a company called Text-Link-Ads, which I use; I lost only 1 PR point though) and/or (2) websites involved in heavy cross-linking efforts. [...]

  2. By Google Attacks Paid Links - Top Occultu]re on October 27, 2007 at 7:02 pm

    [...] Speculation abounds that the reason Google is devaluing so many worthwhile websites in its PageRank system has to do with sites (like mine) selling paid links. As mentioned earlier, before signing up with Text-Link-Ads, the company I sell static links through, I checked with Google to make sure it didn’t violate their TOS; they assured me that it did not. But this only means that I can use AdSense alongside the TLA system. It is not a guarantee that I would not be penalized for selling paid links. [...]

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