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rockybalboa
in other news, i nominate wheel to be made a moderator here at sphinn, effective immeadiately.
Paid links are part of the natural economy google has created. It has made their results, and all search engine results better.
Consider my arguments -
- Sellers create quality content and attempt to naturally increase their pagerank knowing that their site will be more valuable to buyers. IE. "The better my site, the more income i can generate and the more food, shelter and clothing i can provide for myself and my family."
- Buyers spend money on buying links. But any small company or large company who is spending money on advertising - chances are their sites are good quality, their services are good quality, they answer the phone when you call, and they provide quality goods and services. Even the radiology group that was highlighted, chances are there is a group/team of specialists behind that website and they will do their best to provide quality services to someone seeking brain tumor or scratched cornea help. Probably alot more help then a wikipedia article can. Few business who are buying links are going to flush their $$ down the toilet and not provide quality website and services if their webpage ranks higher now then before? In fact, many can argue link selling/buying has made google's results better then ever before.
However, the downside to all of this, the net effect of google's change in policy: More Link buying, and Less Disclosure. Some % of paid links will be "detected" by google, so buyers need to buy more to offset them. Sellers who disclose their links ie "sponsored links" or put nofollow on them, their value is reduced now. So sellers and the marketplace adjust accordingly... Its a natural micro-economy. Human nature is far more powerful then any algorithm can control or detect. Although well intended, the only thing going after something more that humans want, is just drive it underground.
And thats to the detriment of us all.
I have a question for Matt - are you a paid poster/blogger ?
You are paid cash by your employer google (paid very well probably) and your personal blog contains post after post about google on regular basis.. It contains dozens of dozens of reviews about googles new products, news, and services...And why they are so great. None of the links to google are nofollowed either. Your links influence the search results probably alot more then any 2 bit blogger does. Where am i wrong? You're paid by your employer, you write about your employer all of the time in your personal journal, and your links influence the search results... Not only of google's but other search engines as well. How is it so different if at all?
And the Big Question - If you quit google and decided to work for another search engine Yahoo, MSN, Ask, etc. Would you then be singing a different tune on your own blog? If so, why or why not?
Actually, my big question / point about singing another tune, was -
You write frequently about google in your blog. They pay you in check/cash i assume (as an employee), and you frequently review your companys products and services paying you, in your personal blog.
If you decided to quit and worked for another search engine, ASK for example. Would www.mattcutts.com be writing more frequently about the features, new products, services, about ASK.com on your blog? (this is what i meant by singing another tune, about your new employer in your blog).
You're paid money by company X and obviously it influences what you write about. None of the links are nofollowed either. If you quit and company Y hires you, suddenly your blog posts are so focused and positive now about company Y. Unless you're really looking to be fired by company Y, I doubt youll write much about company X anymore in the way that you used to.
Is it reallllllllyyyyy much different? I think its a fair question.
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Story: 24 million links & Google looks the other way