Why Selling Links Is Not a Good Idea

I Hate Defending Search Engines but…

Originally Posted, Friday, November 16, 2007
This post is not going to go well with a large segment of the blogging community.
Sites that have been using the services of payperpost have been seeing their pagerank dropping like flies for the past few days. It appears that most are dropping all way back down to a PR0. Needless to say there is a new round of Google bashing going on and you can check out the payperpost forum ( I’m not linking to it with a ten foot pole ) for a sense of what the populace thinks. I also noticed several posts on Blogging Zoom this morning that touch on this new round of woes.
The general consensus seems to be that everyone wants to stick their head in the sand and pout.
Here are a few of the comments I’ve read this morning;

“Really, I don’t care about PR. I’ll sell links and reviews on my blog even if it remains a PR 0 for the rest of its life…”

“It’s all about networking. That’s where 95% of my traffic comes from anyway.”

“I think you have the right idea. We can’t worry too much about something we have no control over. Besides, if we crawl back out of this hole they’ll probably just smack us back down again.”

These are completely natural reactions – a lot of small blogs have just lost their main source of income. I sympathize with them and I know one day I will do something to get slammed by Google as well. When it happens I will lose a big chunk of my income. I will be mad too – the only difference is that I will be mad at myself and not Google.
People are trying to convince themselves that Google is a big heartless monster out to take away income from the people who need it most. They act like this was unexpected and Google is only doing it to reduce competition in the advertising market. They are convinced that Google is going to get sued for anti-trust violations and it serves them right.
People are mad and want revenge.
People are also saying that they don’t care about PR, it’s meaningless and they will keep on doing what they have been doing.
This is great news to you if you are smart.
A different viewpoint on G.
First let me say that my opinion is based on my motives online. I am online to make money. So are most of you or you probably wouldn’t be reading an article on a blog that exists for the purpose of explaining how to make money online. I have no view on the moral/ethical questions posed about Google. People can debate whether Google is evil until the cows come home – I don’t care. I only care about how Google works because knowing this allows you to make money while all the competition drowns in their sorrows.
Google was not wrong in what they did. It is true that they have effectively eliminated a source of competition but the competition wasn’t really selling advertising – it was selling paid links for the purpose of passing PR on to buyers.
Google states very clearly that you can sell paid reviews and advertising on your site. You just have to add the no-follow tag. They aren’t eliminating the competition, you can have all the paid ads you want and you won’t be penalized. You are not allowed to sell your pagerank. This is the simplest way to put it. Selling pagerank is gaming the system – lesser sites can buy their way to the top of the serp’s. Do you want Google to start spitting out crappy, spammy sites on the front page of the listings again? If they hadn’t put a stop to paid links this is what would eventually happen. Believe me when I say you don’t want this to happen because honest bloggers like you will never make it to the top of the serp’s – the black hatters would take over, again.
I’m not a lawyer but as far as anti-trust goes Google isn’t violating my understanding of it. They own a proprietary software and can use it and tinker with it all they want. They aren’t stopping competition. If you want to be listed on their index then you have to follow the rules. They have the right to make the rules and you have the right not to use them or care about them.
I have the right to make rules on my own blog. If I run a contest I can say that only 1 vote will count and you will be eliminated if you vote more than once. Oh and you are not allowed to pay someone for their vote. This would make the votes meaningless as the biggest spender will win. If I catch you selling votes you will be banned.
This is what Google is doing. They offer a search engine. They rank sites on the basis of who is most relevant to your query. They use a system of votes to help determine who the most relevant site is for each query. Each vote you get from others increases your authority. You are not allowed to buy those votes or sell your votes.
If you sell or buy votes (links) then Google has the right to drop your PR or even de-index you. They can list who they want for any reason they want. They can ignore anyone they want too. You can ignore them too and not care if they index you.
So, did Google do anything wrong? Nope. They warned people not to sell links. They warn people not to game the system. Payperpost exists solely to broker link sales between buyers and sellers. The higher your PR the more money you get for a link. This was all disguised (poorly) by claiming that the buyer was getting paid advertising for his money and that a link would be included so the reader could click through to the source. The only problem with this is that PPP wouldn’t allow users to use the no-follow tag on the links. This wouldn’t be a problem for PPP if the buyers were actually just buying advertising. They wouldn’t allow the no-follow tag used because they knew that the only way they could get buyers was by offering the passing of pagerank. No one will pay for a review on a PR5 blog that has no traffic unless they get a link out of the deal.
For everyone that is upset with Google you should really think about this. You only made money by taking advantage of a system that was set up to game Google. Google caught you and the system gaming them and stopped you from doing more of it. They weren’t in the wrong and have once again offered the rest of us a less competitive playing field.
If you say that you don’t care about Google then you are a noble soul but you are going to have a hard time making money online. Sure you can turn to the social sites and work on getting traffic. This traffic won’t make you money but it will increase your alexa ranking and as flawed as alexa is it will be the new measurement used to determine who can sell paid reviews. PPP will be unveiling a new ratings system shortly based entirely on traffic. Instead of PR you will be offered better paying reviews based on how much traffic you have. This will mean that most low traffic sites won’t make a dime. It will also mean that people will start Gaming Alexa to increase their traffic stats – it’s easy to do. Advertisers will quickly complain that they aren’t getting their money’s worth and stop buying. Depending on this type of model to make money online is unsustainable and a waste of your time.
You should care about Google because if you follow the rules you do get rewarded. PR is far from dead. PR is necessary in order to drive search engine traffic to your site. Search engine traffic is more profitable than social network traffic. If people really do stop caring about pleasing Google then the rest of us have a lot less competition to worry about.
For the past week I have been posting on ways you can make money with adsense. I have talked about how content and learning how to target keywords can increase your adsense earnings. I may have downplayed the importance of PR but make no mistake – the higher your PR the more you can make. You don’t need a lot of PR to make money with Adsense but the more you get the better. You should concern yourself with PR – follow G’s rules and you will get it.
Cheers
Griz
14 comments:
Talina said…
This post was great! I am relieved to see someone else who agrees with me. This is no surprise it was clearly stated that sites would be penalized…
Learning how google and other search engines work is very benificial and it is the best way to make money. Staying educated and informed is the best way!
Great post!
November 16, 2007 8:05 PM
steven wilson said…
As you stated here google put the rules right up front.Why so many blame google for their drop in pr for breaking the rules baffles me.
Steven
November 16, 2007 9:06 PM
Markk said…
Grizz, you did a great job writing this post, full of rational thinking. I wish I had written this but you did it first, kudos. Leading up to the Big G crackdown, there have been too many gamers trying to outwit the system. It’s so easy to blame Google when you get the PR drop, and remember…it was so easy for them to brag about their PR when they were up there in the clouds. How easy it can be for folks to make a quick flip flop when the going gets tough. The sad thing is that there are too many self-proclaimed gurus in the blogosphere, too many regurgitated information, and too many blogging with herd mentality.
November 17, 2007 3:46 AM
Grizzly Brears said…
Thanks for the support folks,
I suppose I wrote this because I don’t want my readers falling into the “google is evil” mindset. This is not helpful and ultimately it’s very non-productive.
The fact is that Google is the biggest source of income online either directly or non-directly.
Don’t fight them, learn to use them.
Thanks for the comments Talina, Steven and Markk.
Griz
November 17, 2007 7:00 AM
Vic said…
This post deserver 1000 Zooms
November 17, 2007 9:08 AM
Grizzly Brears said…
Thanks Vic,
I had to laugh when I saw you submitted it to BZ. I didn’t zoom it myself for fear I would be overrun with irate Google bashers…
I have had a bit of traffic through here from BZ and while they haven’t zoomed me they also haven’t left any unsavory comments either.
This is probably a good sign that heads are cooling and the smart folks are catching on – use them (Google) and don’t abuse them.
Thanks for the zoom Vic!
Griz
November 17, 2007 9:50 AM
Terry said…
Hmmm.
I agree with what you’re saying Grizz, but I still don’t like the way G are going about things.
I just wrote a post with my own views on my HW blog about this.
It’s the time honoured case of the big guys squashing the little guys. It annoys the hell out of me when there is a better (and fairer) way and G is not taking it.
That’s to hit the recipients of the link juice from paid reviews, like don’t shoot the messenger, go after the real bad guy!
G has the ability and the resources to do this.
And it would be a lot fairer and actually hit the people who are trying to game the system – the ones who are buying links.
The ones who are selling them are not the ones artificially climbing the SERPs. They’re just trying to make a buck or two from writing in their blogs using a system that’s there to be used.
But that’ll never happen, of course. You only have to look at the way any big guy has used his power to manipulate the little guys down through history. They always take the easy option and if it means squashing a few ants on the way, who cares, right?
Am I still sore about losing my adsense account?
You bet!
November 17, 2007 10:20 AM
Grizzly Brears said…
Gee.. Terry. I had no idea you weren’t fond of Google. Lol
I figured this post might get a rise out of you. Your point about Google’s methods is well taken and it’s why I mentioned I didn’t care about the ethical debate – could Google have shown more leniency to the sellers and just have penalized the buyers?
Sure they could have and the fact they chose the easiest method by simply cutting the head off – PPP – to expidite things quickly has sparked the “Google is Evil” debate.
It’s not that I don’t care about this from a philosophical stance – it is interesting, it’s just that I don’t care about it in terms of building my business. I’d rather base my actions on what Google does and not on whether I agree with them or not.
It’s kinda the old plan for the worst case scenario and you can’t go wrong.
I think a lot of people were hoping that Google might have cut them some slack. This is admirable but a real lousy way to run a business – relying on the generosity of others doesn’t usually pan out. Sad but true.
Thanks for sharing your view Terry as I know a lot of people would agree with you. Google could probably learn a few things about the other kind of PR (public relations) and I am surprised that they are so poor at it given their strengths in other areas.
Griz
November 17, 2007 10:52 AM
gumbi said…
Great post and very thought provoking Griz! I have wondered why so many people get upset, and rightfully so, however if you abide by the rules, then you will do fine.
Also, can you shoot me another email or contact me through my site? I can’t send you an email, keeps kicking back to me.
November 17, 2007 5:00 PM
Lizzie said…
Interesting you link to my zoomed post. I actually took a light-hearted look at the whole thing and mentioned in the post that I wasn’t going to stop using or “ban” Google. My exact quote was:
I’m not going to boycott Google or ban them or give a damned about them anymore.
Until a few months ago I had no idea what PageRank was, how to pass and certainly had no idea how to drag someone else’s down (I had a rant about a blog snob who didn’t want the “little guy” linking to her, but that’s another story). I was blind to Google’s extreme power. I thought it was a great company that provided valuable products and services, but never considered that it had the power to determine if someone could make money off of advertising.
I agree that Google is neither a monopoly nor censor. Those of us smacked down can still speak and everyone can still search. However, Terri’s right. They should have gone after the people buying the links in the first place. I think that work-from-home mothers and others who are trying to make just a couple of extra dollars (blog whores as we’ve been called) have been taken advantage of from all angles. The advertisers know how to get the SERPs up and PPP made money from their greed and our naivete. Google’s also looking at the bottom line as far as AdSense is concerned. The competitor’s are all pretty much crapping on the ones doing the least amount of harm to the great ole Intertoobs.
November 17, 2007 5:31 PM
Grizzly Brears said…
Great comment Lizzie,
Sorry I didn’t link to your post directly but it was the BZ comments that I was interested in – not that your post wasn’t worth reading – I figured my readers would follow the trail. (and you link directly to the PPP forum – call me paranoid! Lol)
Your point is valid and as I said to Terry, I think Google had some choices on how they could have handled this. They chose the expedient method and gave little pause to the outcome of the people using their system.
While I believe they were right in fixing the system I am constantly surprised that they are willing to harm their public perception when they could avoid it – it makes me wonder if the company is so nerd oriented that they refuse to bring in a person with “people skills” to teach them how to manage the public persona that all corporations need.
I suppose this would be akin to the geeks asking their sworn enemy “a Jock” for help.
In the end it is a sign of their dominance that they can ignore the masses so cavalierly – had they any real competition I think we would see a company much more aware and interested in public relations.
Thanks for dropping in Lizzie,
Griz
November 17, 2007 6:05 PM
Lizzie said…
I don’t blame you for not linking, Grizz, bad neighborhoods and all. I don’t think you’re paranoid at all. I have another blog that has never had advertising of any sort on it, it sits on a separate server than my ppp blog, and it was smacked from a 3 to 0. You’re absolutely right not to link to me. Which is a little sad when I think about it…
I think that Google still offers valuable services, but that people give them too much power. They were crowned emperor and now they’re taking that power and running with it. That’s the way it goes. Google can’t be people oriented because the people didn’t want that.
At any rate, I think it was much less stressful when I was blogging about politics. At least with that you know big change comes every 8 years.
November 17, 2007 6:21 PM
Terry said…
Ahh yes, competition. The lack of it is why the big G can get away with this and not give a hoot. Many years ago in England a certain company that ran a monopoly with telephones was in a similar position. They abused it by charging too much and got away with it for a long time because people had no other choice.
Pay up of don’t have the servise.
Well, they eventually got their come uppance when their monopoly was forcibly torn down by the only thing in the country that was bigger – the government!
Well, maybe it wasn’t bigger – just that it wanted to get re-elected and public opinion is a powerfully motivating factor…
In the ungoverned leviathan that is the internet, there is no one bigger to make the big G do anything other than what it wants. Public opinion counts for nought when you are so big that it doesn’t matter if a million people hate you, there are another billion that couldn’t care less!
So just how did the big G get so big in the first place? They created a search engine that loaded up fast with NO ADS on the homepage.
Come on Yahoo, Ask, MSN et al – put your thinking caps on and throw some rocks at Goliath… and make ‘em big ones!
Terry
November 18, 2007 4:26 AM
Ego Essex said…
This post is REALLY old but I wanted to comment anyway. I think the people that are disagreeing with google are only disagreeing because of personal reasons. They need to think about this, do they -really- think that BUYERS should be penalized for things that sellers sell them? I have to say, I’ve never heard PR before coming to this blog. If I started a blog and was looking for ways to get traffic, and came across one of these sites, how am I supposed to know it’s “illegal” ? I doubt they say so on the site. If I would have bought the product and gotten no benefit I would have been out the money and have no way to get it back. And I think that if there were no drug dealers…people wouldn’t buy drugs. Even if the drug dealers are just trying to make a quick buck and you are sapping all their poor profits.Either way..this point may be completely moot now. I haven’t read the rest of your blog to find out.