John Chow gives some tips on how to stay under the radar… the Google radar that is…

In the past few days, a number of webmasters reported a decrease in the page rank of their websites/ blogs.  This is following warnings (for a while now) from Google that it would crack down on paid links.  The funny thing is that some sites who have seen their PR decrease did not sell links.  What conclusion can we derive from this?

This PR update or readjustment did not only affect paid links but the way links are weighted by Google in general.  In other words, since Google’s main concern is to provide better search results, its ultimate goal is to allow for accurate linking between sites.  Paid links are only part of the problem, albeit a visible one.

The rate someone is willing to pay for a link depends largely on its PR value and the traffic it can bring.  With this recent change, those rates are bound to be affected.  Paid links will probably remain as search engines still base themselves on link networks to come up with their results.  As long as this remains true, paid links will stay.

That being said, let’s see if those sites that lost some PR will also lose traffic.

The perception of threat is often a sign of vulnerability. The more vulnerable you are, the more you will take an active stance at “protecting” yourself. Google must feel very vulnerable to what it perceives as “unethical” linking practices for cracking down so hard on them and sending out so many mixed signals aimed at confusing webmasters. Is this a sign that its algorithm is heavily dependent on link networks connecting websites to one another? Probably. This is actually no secret as Google itself mentions it in its Webmaster Guidelines.

Networking with others is essential in building one’s visibility, in the real world and online. Now that Google wants to regulate this basic aspect of human interaction, what should we take out of it? Is the online giant with such humble beginnings taking itself too seriously… to the point of now wanting to police people online, setting out guidelines as to what is acceptable and what is not?

Search engines are dependent on websites because those same websites are at the essence of their own existence. Most websites are now dependent on search engines because of the immensity of the Web, yet the necessity to attract traffic. Is this a case of one versus a bunch, but the bunch is unorganized and indecisive, while the one stands strong as a single entity?

* Jennifer Laycock, from Search Engine Guide, wrote an interesting article on this issue. Please click here to go to the article.