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I was surprised to see the PageRank drops last month, but apparently that was only the beginning. Google is now at war against link selling sites - specifically those in the Internet marketing niche it seems. Several new high profile changes have happened including:
- Search Engine Guide - PR 7 to PR 4
- ProBlogger - PR 6 to PR 4
- CopyBlogger - PR 6 to PR4
- John Chow - PR6 to PR 4
- Engadget - PR 7 to PR 5
I could continue on, but I think you got the point already.
So what’s behind this controversial policy of devaluing sites manually? Is it just paid links, or is there something more to it? Andy Beard seems to think there’s more to it. According to him many of them are part of a larger network of interlinked sites:
Here are the Google guidelines
Don’t participate in link schemes designed to increase your site’s ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or “bad neighborhoods” on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links.
Many of the reputable sources that have received a penalty are part of extensive blog networks, and they have one factor in common. They have massive interlinking between their network sites.
Might that be the reason behind this, then? Perhaps, but we don’t know for sure, since Google has not told us. There are already a few questions about this in comments on Matt Cutts’ blog (he’s on Google spam team), but I’m waiting for his next post. He might explain it somewhat. At least I feel someone at Google should, or the penalized webmasters won’t know what to change about their site.
Waiting to see how this develops. For now at least, I’m not going to do anything with my site. I see some webmasters running to remove paid links, but before we get the reasons behind the changes, I will not be doing that. And I doubt I will do it even afterwards.
by Sutocu | October 24, 2007 
yea they do make a point for why they are jacking everyones page ranks… most of those companies are part of that larger network he was talking about. it does kinda suck tho, especially if u have a blog making you a couple hundred dollars a month, cuz u have to decide between whether u keep the paid links or your PR. and when ur PR starts to fade, so will your advertisers.
Um you need to keep looking around. Lots of sites that were hit don’t fall into any of the categories you just listed.
Exactly, I cannot yet see the common denominator. Im waiting for Google to come forward with the reasons, whatever they are. Before that we can only speculate.
I have been reading your blog last couple of weeks and enjoy every bit. Thanks.