Google Penalty Sweep Continues
The penalty sweep resulting in lower PR isn’t over. Duncan Riley mentioned a second batch of sites have just had their pagerank lowered by Google. The latest batch includes Engadget which dropped to a PR5 from 7, Download Squad which dropped to a PR4 from a 5, Problogger dropped to a PR4 from a 6, Copyblogger dropped to a PR4 from a 6, and smaller blogs, some of which are run by my friends.
What causes the penalty?
The common factors that have been seen so far are numerous sponsored links, text link ads and having hundreds of links on one page. Keep in mind that not all blogs penalized were selling text link ads or had a huge amount of sponsored links. Another factor that was mentioned by Andy Beard about Google’s crackdown was that some of the big blogs that were penalized were part of blog networks. This meant that those blogs had a lot of outgoing links to other blogs in their network.
What happens next?
My guess is that the actual PR update will only happen after the penalty sweep. Remember when most people were asking why the update was delayed? The answer might be that Google was busy preparing for the penalty sweep. It will also be interesting to see what the big blogs will do.
What do you guys think?
Technorati Tags: Tech News
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...-
Liked this post? Subscribe to the RSS Feed
Thank you for reading this post. You can now Read Comments (28) or Leave A Trackback.
Post Info
This entry was posted on Thursday, October 25th, 2007 and is filed under Internet News. .You can follow any responses to this entry through the Comments Feed. You can Leave A Comment, or A Trackback.
Previous Post: The Battle Of The Case Mods »
Next Post: Is Your Spouse Spending Too Much Time Playing Video Games? Tell Judge Judy. »
October 25th, 2007 01:16
Some of the big sites either will be kissing big G’s hiney. But there can be a more serious fall out that may affect Google on Wall Street- no matter few exciting days or weeks ahead of us
Vlad’s last blog post..Stock Watch: Google
October 25th, 2007 02:17
@Vlad:
Very interesting indeed. This will be a great boxing match.
October 25th, 2007 04:01
I’m not sure about this, I can see why Google wants to do it, but not sure what the implications down the line will be.
Right now, for the first time since I started my blog, I’m quite satisfied with the fact that TextLinkAds hadn’t got round to approving me yet!
Zath’s last blog post..Xbox 360 Bargain - ‘Halo 3′
October 25th, 2007 04:07
@Zath:
Haha you and me both buddy
October 25th, 2007 04:13
does that mean if my PR5 site hasn’t dropped then it’s staying at 5 ?? ooh I hope so
Andy Bailey’s last blog post..easy ecommerce, AJAX and professional designs
October 25th, 2007 04:32
@Andy:
Haha I hope so too buddy
October 25th, 2007 05:04
Mine dropped 1 point early this morning and is now back to where it was. Weird.
Google won’t be happy until they completely own the internet.
Mike’s last blog post..The last man standing, sort of.
October 25th, 2007 05:43
@Mike:
At least it went up again. Still, it is weird.
October 25th, 2007 06:10
Now it’s back down again. Grrr.
Mike’s last blog post..The last man standing, sort of.
October 25th, 2007 07:06
@Mike:
That’s cruel.
October 25th, 2007 08:27
And now it’s back up again…haha. This is just getting silly.
How much ya wanna bet they’re testing a new algorithm and this has nothing to do with penalties? It’s hard to imagine Google going around an manually penalizing the number of sites that have been affected today.
Mike’s last blog post..The last man standing, sort of.
October 25th, 2007 08:41
@Mike:
Maybe they are. While they’re at it, maybe they can give me a PR6 and leave it like that
October 25th, 2007 10:05
One thing is for sure, all the SEO experts are waiting with baited breath for the updates and the guaranteed rush that will result after so many sites fall under Google’s axe.
AntiBarbie’s last blog post..Poetry - A Thousand Mirrors
October 25th, 2007 10:10
@AntiBarbie:
That’s true. This is going to be one heck of a show
October 25th, 2007 12:06
Does this mean that by having 127 links on my blogroll, I will be penalized before I ever even get rank? Is that only for paid links?
I’d be embarrassed to have high pagerank. It should be called Greed Rank. One of the BIGGEST factors is having one way links and no outgoing links.
The higher your rank, the greedier you are!
Bobby Revell’s last blog post..Love Yourself Love Humanity
October 25th, 2007 12:32
So what does the big G call it when they link out to parts of their other networks? I think they need to penalize themselves. They do it a lot.
I originally was a five (back in April.) About two weeks ago I dropped from a 4 to a 3 and yesterday I saw I’m a 2. I’m not taking down the advertiser I got on my own. I won’t make it “nofollow” I happen to like them. My website. I paid for it. Don’t tell me how to run it. Then again I’m not dependent on google for a lot of my traffic and it’s not the way I make most of my money (adsense) the majority comes from affiliate marketing. I do think some will be falling all over themselves trying to “make it right” for the big G only to still suffer the Big G’s wrath. I read that had happened in at least one instance.
Some people pay way too much attention to Page Rank and do too much to try to hang onto it
Opal Tribble’s last blog post..Bloggers Adding Beauty To The Blogosphere
October 25th, 2007 14:58
Sounds like their kicking themselves in the teeth a little bit. I would have thought they loved Blog sites.
Sigmar
Battle Reporter
Sigmar’s last blog post..Battle Royale - meet the contestants…
October 25th, 2007 15:23
I monitor my PR, but more interested in why my Alexa ranking keeps going the wrong way.
Maybe I lack the rocket science mind that Google has to understand how they calculate things, but as much as I like Google, it bothers me the ripples they can cause.
Mark’s last blog post..Find Salvation In CleanCSS
October 25th, 2007 15:24
Hey, looky there! I got some comment luv!
Mark’s last blog post..Find Salvation In CleanCSS
October 25th, 2007 15:26
[…] you again soon!While Google’s PageRank team have been busy penalizing the big players with a penalty sweep, GMail team has been busy adding IMAP support to […]
October 25th, 2007 16:22
@Bobby:
Your blogroll won’t be a problem. It seems it’s only for paid links and massive interlinking between blogs on the same network, although how they choose which sites is beyond me.
@Opal:
I agree. It will be interesting to see what the big blogs will do
@Sigmar:
That’s what I thought too
@Mark:
I know what you mean buddy. Hey your latest post is finally showing!
October 26th, 2007 02:52
I’m still at PR5 but I guess they haven’t been at my door yet
Malin’s last blog post..XSE Shopping Cart
October 26th, 2007 08:12
@Malin:
Maybe they’ll overlook it haha
October 26th, 2007 16:51
This was really a hunt by Google to punish blogs, but we dont knoe for sure, whats the real reason.
Nirmal’s last blog post..Blogger Adds Subscribe to Comments by Email
October 26th, 2007 22:30
@Nirmal:
I agree buddy. We know it’s a hunt, we just don’t how they pick their targets. Their time would have been better spent punishing splogs instead
October 27th, 2007 08:37
My site is now showing PR4 up from that PR1 they originally dropped it to. BlogsWeLuv and the comic site are now showing PR4 as well, up from PR0. Looks like the update is finally under way.
Mike’s last blog post..The last man standing, sort of.
October 27th, 2007 13:42
@Mike:
It seems there is something happening. I still have the PR3 I’ve had since April. We’ll see if I get promoted or demoted heh.
March 28th, 2008 15:31
Why people so care about their PR? For ads. bargaining? For fame? For Google donation? … Just ignore this irrelevant thing! Concentrate on your own contents and concentrate on your businesses (selling or selling links)! Your efforts will be reflected in the future.
arjun’s last blog post..Office Furniture Articles & News