Google’s Pulling Rank

There’s some serious buzz going on in this corner of the blogosphere lately*. According to Ben at Blogging Experiment, Google is slashing and dashing to punish bloggers who sell links- or in his words “kicked it’s war on paid links into high gear”. Apparently there’s a lot of scrambling and panicking going on in the realms of those folks that actually make money selling links (without using “rel=’nofollow’). People are losing serious PR and some are even getting booted from the index (a discussion on WebmasterWorld.com). It’s an interesting read from my standpoint, because I’m so new to this type of stuff.

I can completely see where Google is coming from regarding this. After all, I’ve spent a lot of time sifting through advert posts to find information on my illness and it’s various symptoms. It’s frustrating to type in a keyword/phrase and the first 3 pages of results are ads. I get that and I appreciate that. But then…

I have some very specific, small-scale goals that I’m working toward. I want to see some kind of progress within the next few months (*patience, Lizzie, patience*) and I really got excited when I got that email from PayPerPost. Considering I’ve always been one to laugh when my blog-friends spouted off about paid bloggers (”They don’t make any money anyway!!” “They’re selling out!” “Burn, Baby, Burn!”) I have zero problem doing a job for them and their clients. I think that if someone can make money legally without hurting someone then they should do that. I felt like that about ads before I started this blog (though I was threatened with bodily harm if I put them on my other spot… Sheesh! Some people, right?). Now since I’ve become so sick and money just keeps getting tighter I agree more and more with that sentiment. Bloggers should be able to make some money with their craft. Right? Right. So, now what?

That’s a really good question. I’m a struggling a little writing content right now because the fog just comes and goes. And school is just, well, it’s just school. I may just take the advice of some bloggers who are more knowledgeable than I in this area and not write for Google. I have no PR (do I even qualify for a big, fat zero at this stage?) and it’s looking like I won’t get it because I pay for this space and if I can get paid because of this space, I’m going to do it. It’s that simple. I think. I’m going to keep experimenting to see what can work for me and hopefully I find a nice comfy spot on the ‘Net that will earn me enough money to see my little goals comes to fruition.

On that note, I have to say I wonder if Google and I could really be friends anyway.

_{*I haven’t looked at other areas such as political, personal, or religious blogging.}

Technorati Tags: Google Page Rank , paid links targeted

Experiment Failed

Updated below.
I was trying to do that pay per post thing. I found a couple of different companies that offer that, so I signed up and signed up and signed up. Then I was rejected, rejected, rejected. One place didn’t bother to reject me, they just ignore me. Well, of course I was rejected. Chipped Polish is a baby in the blogosphere. A new beginning so to speak. No one has linked to us yet. Duh! I have another blog that has a lot more history (3 years worth!) and linkage, but I can’t bear to monetize that one. It’s very different and my readers there like it that way. So, I’ll just scratch that idea for now and go back to what I was doing before I had that bright idea.

“You are not worthy!”

I did manage to do some bloghopping the other day, looking for potential new neighbors. I have discovered that things in the money-for-blogging corner of the blogosphere are a mite different than what I’m used to. And it’s a little disconcerting, to say the least.

For instance, I ran across a blog with no comments and a very short blogroll. I was a little surprised by that because I found this blog on one of the sites that rejected me. Anyway, read the content and it was a little “meh”, so I decided to hop through to one of the blogs on her links list. At the bottom of the list was a link to instructions on how to get on her links list. Of course, I followed it. I need a little help here, can’t you see. Then my little bubble popped and that was when I really decided that blogging strictly for cash was not for me.

This blogger announced that she had a PR 5 blog, which was almost the top of the Google shebang. She then went on to say that if one had a blog that was a PR 3 or better then please contact her for inclusion on her humble links list. But if one had a blog below PR 3 don’t even bother linking her because she did not want her link seen on such a low-level blog.

WTF?

So, what would happen if someone with a new blog- like me, perhaps - were to link to her? I have no idea. But I’m 100% sure she didn’t get her PR from getting linked to for content. My other blog (non-monetized, free from ads, blah blah blah) is small, but it has a decent link score. And it gets plenty of comments. I’m sure, though, if I were a member of a particular site where it was customary to link to other members, that site would be a lot bigger. It’s not, though, because I don’t want it to be. That does sound arrogant of me, doesn’t it? I’m not ashamed, though. There used to be time in the blogosphere where links were exchanged out of courtesy and where bloggers helped their younger, less fortunate comrades get up higher in the ranks. That’s still true for portions, I suppose. That attitude, plus excellent content, helped those bloggers get higher rankings/authority/linkage. Imagine if a few of the more prominent bloggers refused to link to anyone in the beginning, or more aptly, if they didn’t have the content to draw in the readers and still refused. Ha!

Content is KING!

I have learned from the good bloggers what is most important and why being a snob gets you nowhere. For niche blogs (which this started as, but has failed miserably at) it’s important to have information that others want and in a way they can absorb. It’s not hard to copy content ideas from those guys. The harder part is taking it and putting your own mark on it. If you aren’t writing about website optimization, then find something that you’re passionate about and write about that. If I, as a passerby, fall asleep while reading what you wrote, then the Big Guys would probably suggest you rethink what you’re writing about. Yes?

I guess if you’re posting just to meet the requirements for a pay per post thing, it doesn’t really matter what your content is, as long as your PR is high. But can that really be satisfying? Isn’t it important to have organic links and regular visitors? I used to think that it was and sadly still do. I don’t think I can write without thought of pulling someone in so that they want to come back. I’m old school like that. I can’t ever imagine telling someone who’s writing I may enjoy that I won’t link to them because their PR isn’t high enough. There’s something really wrong with that attitude.

And so I have to rethink my goals here. I don’t ever want to become the kind of blogger that snubs her nose at the “lesser mortals” because of their page rank.

Update:
I want to make it clear that I did not request a link from the above mentioned blogger. I was taken aback because the blogger specifically requested that no blogs with less than a Page Rank of 3 link to that blog. It was that request that I found arrogant and snobbish- and I stand by that opinion.

I’d also like to note that my other blog has some links, but has no Page Rank. Also, that blog does link to this one. Why that is important I’m not sure, but I thought I’d clear up that misunderstanding too. I am not begging for links nor do I feel entitled to anything. I know that I have to work hard and plan to do so. This post was an observation I made as a newbie to this particular area of the blogosphere. My opinion regarding that observation hasn’t changed with this update. (Oct.13, 2007)