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Went Hot: October 24, 2007 - 2:08 pm
Posted By: DazzlinDonna 255 days ago
Topic Type: News Story (Jump to http://www.seo-scoop.com)
Category: Google SEO
21 Comments
Went Hot: October 24, 2007 - 2:08 pm
Posted By: DazzlinDonna 255 days ago
Topic Type: News Story (Jump to http://www.seo-scoop.com)
Category: Google SEO
21 Comments
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Comments
Well, the main problem with that is that there is no way we would know. As it stands you have people debating based purely on speculation and rumor, and a huge amount of misinformation being passed around as fact in the industry now. People will still make decisions based on what they heard, regardless of the truth, and that can vary wildly.
I think what G did with the whole FUD tactic of dropping the visible PageRank did exactly the amount of damage that they were looking to do, regardless of what effect it may have on "juice".
For the scenario you mention to be effective, Google would have to actually be open and honest about what they are doing, and imo they are very unlikely to do that at this stage.
Sheesh, Michael, WE ARE PRETENDING, OK?
I would still buy them but it would obviously be all about traffic. I think we as SEOs tend to forget that good links will bring in traffic all on their own, without having to worry about Google.
I know, and I actually consider myself to be someone with a fairly good imagination, so I tried... but as soon as I got to the bit in my head about Google being open and honest, some sort of imagination fuse box blew. :)
I mean, if we backed up all the way to the beginning, and no one ever knew that links would pass juice? Then yeah, there would still be a market. You want to know what the biggest difference would be?
The whole fear about linking out to bad neighborhoods would not be there, and people would be more likely to link out just for money than they are now, with less concern about who they were actually linking to. Google had this whole effect on the industry which raised the bar on who people would and would not link out to, and now they're coming back with this "Screw you, we don't give a crap about the fact that you link to quality sites, we're going to penalize you anyways" bull. Predictable, considering their current mentality, but still bull.
ok, forget about whether or not google was honest. what if all paid links were stripped of their ability to pass juice because they were all nofollowed, or javascript, or redirected, or whatever. they weren't able to pass juice, period. again, THIS IS, WHAT IF? regardless of what google might or might not say. just pretending that over night, they couldn't pass juice - COULDNT, UNABLE, IMPOSSIBLE.
Advertising would still go on. Two major changes would come about:
1) The metric used for how much to charge would change. No idea what it would be, but people sold advertising before Google, and will do so long after Google meets it's demise.
2) The value of advertising on sites would shift dramatically. Currently, due to the practice of PageRank arbitrage (buying a couple of higher PageRank links to your site, so that you can sell TLA's on it after the next PR update), the price of advertising has dropped dramatically over the past couple of years. Even though, due to Link Recursion Depth, those sites with strictly purchased links didn't pass near as much ranking value as those who got their PageRank from millions of PR1 pages, most people didn't know the difference. This flooded the market, drove the per-site earnings way down for many honest quality sites, and allowed a ton of "fluff" advertising to be sold. There is a good chance that the next metric used (which might even come about without the changes you mentioned, due to Google's latest maneuver), might be MUCH harder to fake, allowing for advertising dollars to be going back to the truly quality sites (such as yours, my dear), instead of to any old page with a green bar.
well, we'll see what the poll says
Heyyyyyy Donna! You going to Vegas for PubCon? We'll be there in a booth probably talking more people into tattoo's of our company logo! :-)
Yeah, I mean, it's blowing me away how everyone always talks about how little pagerank really means anymore, but as soon as they lose it, it means everything. Links are links and they've always been a way to measure the importance of a page/site. Google just started off with a good product, then once everyone started using it, they figured it was time to shove their weight around like times before.
If you've lost PR, don't change a thing. "I should know", PR is meaningless in the buying and selling of text links. We only do it if the customer requests it. You want relevancy so you get the two pronged shot, traffic from that site and an eventual help due to that link.
Someone said it best
Ron, ron, ron, I wish I could be there again to help y'all drink, er, work the night away, but unfortunately, it's not to be this year. I won't be able to make it, but think of me when you throw down the first shot! :)
So, I'd love to see you encourage all of your link buyers to vote in my poll. The more votes, the better we can see what the results would be in that scenario.
I'm not a link-buyer, but I voted anyway - I voted how a link-buyer would vote if they are being honest about it.
It will no longer be "link buying" but what it really should have always been on topic traffic advertising. I've advertised on sites before, but on sites with relevance that I knew would drive traffic, the juice, if any, was secondary, but of course always appreciated ;)
Why would you do something on her site she asked you not to? No offense, but I don't think she was looking for random uninformed (strictly in this arena, I mean, not in general) opinions. She was literally asking for opinions from a specific demographic, one that you don't happen to be in.
I'm not a link buyer and I didn't vote in your poll But, I'd buy links or if the links drove traffic to a site that could turn traffic into money.
Does Amazon.com care if I nofollow my affiliate links? Or any other affiliate site? Maybe a little, but it doesn't affect whether or not they pay me.
I wouldn't buy the sorts of non-traffic generating hidden links we've been seeing.
Lucia, Tim, et al, I'm not concerned with what non-link-buyers might or might not do. I'm wanting to know what people who ALREADY BUY LINKS would do. People who already buy links have a certain mindset. Non-link-buyers have a different mindset. It's important to me to get an accurate view of the changes that might take place based on people who really do buy links - not based on what non-link-buyers opinions are.
I am not a link buyer so sphunn but not going to pollute your poll.
That being said I have mentioned before one of my highest referrers is a link I received for a donation, that I honestly wouldn't care if it was nofollowed or not.
The person who gave me the link, and they did give it to me at their suggestion is delighted that the link is their top exit route from the site.
I know the poll isn't for non-link buyers. That's why I didn't vote. But... I still want to talk. :)
There would be a thriving black market for brokers who had access to a secret stash of link-juicy links so people would still be buying them for ranking purposes but the funding for "legit" link-brokers would dry up.
Ok I know I am a cheating smarty pants. Sorry Donna. Good question though.
I didn't really expect to get flamed for saying I voted how I think a link-buyer would truly vote if they were being honest... but you've reacted so I'll respond:
First, no I didn't actually vote. To be completely honest, I tried to but (via the Opera browser) the voting widget thing didn't work. So I was just kidding about having voted - even though I admit I tried to - but anyway the results haven't been skewed - at least not by me.
Second, I DO feel that link-buyers would only vote the way they want Google to think they'd feel. It's nice to say that you'd buy links regardless of whether PageRank was a factor, but it's impossible for people to be honest in a public forum when they know Big Brother is reading.
I buy links all the time and I must say I will still buy at the same price if the site had more to offer than a little green in the toolbar. If the link got me viral links, traffic, brand awareness, sure I would pay good money for a link like that even with nofollow on it.
But if link juice is the main attraction then I would not pay a dime for the link if it had nofollow. No traffic, no juice, no eyeballs - what am I paying for exactly?
The best links still have traffic value, but the big question is change in scale of economies - ie, how much to charge on traffic from specific sources only. I guess then it becomes a kind of PPC.
Donna, I'm sad that you won't be at Pubcon this year. :(
Great poll idea...I voted and I'll be anxious to see the results. So far, it's just as I'd expect; people would still buy but for a much lower price. Even if links didn't pass juice, though, there are tons of creative things you can do with them so long as the spiders follow them. They are, after all, the roadways of the web!