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.

Admittedly, Google is trying to protect the integrity of their search results and is ostensibly trying to make sure that you, the consumer, get better quality information when you go to do a search on something. But there is so much more going on here than just that.

First of all, Google appears to be attacking competing ad systems. As *the* internet advertising giant, it’s evident that Google wishes to maintain the massive lead they have built with their keyword-sensitive advertising system. Text-Link-Ads (which actually makes me three times as much as Google’s AdSense does per month) operates according to a different philosophy. In essence, if you have a high PageRank with Google (although I’m guessing other factors affect it as well), you get paid more by advertisers working with TLA who want to basically by a slice of your popularity. So you’re selling a slice of your PR.

When I originally signed up for TLA, I emailed AdSense customer support and asked them specifically if using TLA violated Google’s TOS (terms of service - sorry for all the acronyms). They responded that it did not and that using TLA was fair game. So I, like many other savvy webmasters seeking to monetize the massive amounts of time and effort we put into creating quality content signed up for Patrick Gavin’s Text-Link-Ad service and began reaping monthly revenue from it.

In a nutshell, TLA is what lets me get away with not having a “regular” job. So you could say that I am biased, but you also have to recognize that Google is biased as well here. They are trying to protect *their* system and the way they seem to be doing that is by devaluing other people’s efforts.

Why is this such a big deal? Because Google has the ability to determine how much money I can make per month, as well as how many people visit my website and interact with my content. Yes, there are other search engines. But when you look at market share, no one else is really a close competitor. And I also recognize that they are on top because their search results are in many cases simply better. But because they have a quality product, they are able to get away with setting a value on other people’s products.

For me, my monthly income has not been affected by Google’s slash-and-burn antics of pissing in its own pool of customers, users and fans. My monthly earnings on AdSense dropped so drastically over two years ago that I was compelled to look for other options, which is how I found TLA in the first place. Now that other people are feeling that same crunch, you can guaran-damn-tee that there will be a mass exodus of tech savvy trend-makers moving away from Google’s products into greener pastures: systems and technological philosophies which are more sustainable, more diversified, and which are in the end not so asinine as Google’s “Don’t Be Evil” antics.