Not saying goodbye to Google

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Google PageRank

If you feel inclined to join some bloggers who have decided to boycott Google, don’t do it just because it’s the right thing to do from a moralistic standpoint. A-list bloggers like John Chow are sticking it to Google because they can AFFORD to. They already have a strong reader base and don’t rely on Google for traffic nor does a lower PageRank affect their earnings very much.

Surrendering To Google

When A-list blogger Yaro Starak of Entrepreneur’s Journey first had his PageRank dropped from 6 to 5, he posted that we should stop caring about PageRank. But when his PageRank dropped further from 5 to 3, he did a flip-flop and admitted that PageRank matters and that he was putting in a request for reconsideration via Google Webmaster Tools.

What Is The Purpose of Your Blog

Before you scream “sell-out” to bloggers who submit to Google’s demands, I urge you to stand back and assess the main objective of your blog. I think it’s safe to assume to a large extent that most money blogs are out to make money online.

Like it or not, PageRank is still one of the main yardsticks advertisers use measure a blogs’ worth and advertising value. The only time when you can afford not to care about a low PageRank is when you have high traffic. In the money blogs niche where competition is very high, how many blogs out there have the kind of traffic that John Chow has?

Google Doesn’t Hate Paid Links

Matt Cutts has stated time and again that Google wants paid links to have the “nofollow” tag. Because this has fallen on deaf ears, Google is taking the bulldozer approach to create fear and uncertainty in the blogosphere. You can argue that Google could have done this more fairly but where would be the impact? What Google has done has gotten the entire blogosphere blogging about it and its message has hit home harder than any press release ever could.

Plan To Recover From The Google Slap

Here’s a sensible plan to recover from the PR0 penalty.

Add “nofollow” tags to all paid links.
Form your own direct advertising plans but make sure links are “nofollow”.
Request for a reconsideration in your Google Webmaster Tools account.
Continue to write good articles to attract traffic.
Use all ways possible to increase blog traffic.

When you get fairly good traffic and a PageRank at the next update, sell your blog for thousands. Success is the best vindication - not ill-considered, hasty action.

Are you thinking of joining in the war cry to boycott Google? Think carefully first whether by doing so you are cutting off your nose to spite your face.

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Tags: google pagerank, blog traffic

Comments

10 Responses to “Not saying goodbye to Google”

bloggingzoom.com on November 21st, 2007 2:45 pm

Not Saying Goodbye To Google…

If you feel inclined to join some bloggers who have decided to boycott Google, don’t do it just because it’s the right thing to do from a moralistic standpoint. A-list bloggers like John Chow are sticking it to Google because they can AFFORD to. Th…
ジェイソン (Jason) on November 25th, 2007 7:43 pm

Boycotting Google is kind of like pissing against the wind. All you’ll manage to do is get yourself wet and laughed at. The Big-G doesn’t care if a few people stop using their services because they have a hundred million others that are more than happy with things as they are

The only people that will lose by not falling in line with Google are the people that don’t want to play by the rules laied down. I don’t like what Google’s done, but I’m powerless to stop it.

That said, I’m still not going to add no-follows to my links. Let’s see how long it takes for my PR4 to drop to 0.
Grizzly on November 25th, 2007 9:35 pm

That’s a well thought out response to the Google boycott issue. I agree with you and urge people to think about what Google can do for you if you play by their rules.

Good Post.

Grizzly
Tim on November 26th, 2007 1:42 am

Good article on avoiding a pagerrank drop, and recovering from one. I was curious, did your PR get affected as well, and if so will you document how these methods work?
emigre on November 26th, 2007 1:15 pm

Jason:
I admire your courage in not nofollowing links. If you use PPP, it won’t be long before you see PR0.

Grizzly:
Thanks for your compliments. I enjoy your blog too.

Tim:
Like many others, my pagerank has been zerofied from a temporary PR4. I will document whether these steps help.
Does Blogging Zoom Bring Traffic? | Some Useless Info on November 26th, 2007 2:06 pm

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Say No To PageRank! on December 10th, 2007 9:38 am

Bloggers, don’t give in! Google should not be able to determine what people can and can’t do with their own site. Search engines should be neutral and Google has way too much control here. I would hope that advertisers and others will see this and realize that PageRank is not a neutral ranking; a high PR merely means that the site has some links to it and is playing nicely with Google, and that is all. PageRank had little to do with traffic before and even less now - a traffic ranking system like Alexa, though far from perfect (especially considering subdomains) is the sort of thing we should be moving towards.

Someone (preferably a group of bloggers with some clout) needs to start a site dedicated to fighting these actions by Google and debunking PageRank. Show that PageRank is meaningless, and it will be!
emigre on December 10th, 2007 1:55 pm

I admire your determination to go up against Google but like you say, unless and until advertisers disregard Pagerank, which I don’t really see it happening anytime soon, getting more traffic is the only way to “boycott” Pagerank.

Thanks for visiting and hope you’ll drop by soon.

cheers
emigre