Let me preface with what (I hope) you’re going to read by saying that, Google can operate its business however it wishes. Let the market decide if it’s good or not. And, for the most part, the market has said Google’s actions are good.
Let me also state that its effort to prevent companies from buying page rank is not so good to some degree.
“We work hard to return the most relevant results for every search we conduct. To that end, we encourage site managers to make their content straightforward and easily understood by users and search engines alike. Unfortunately, not all websites have users’ best interests at heart. Some site owners attempt to ‘buy PageRank™’ in the form of paid links to their sites. Buying links to improve PageRank violates our quality guidelines.”
Yes, ranking high in Google search results is important for businesses. All businesses, I’d dare say.
But, there are other reasons for “paid links” like what companies like PayPerPost offer: To try to garner a level of word-of-mouth exposure among bloggers.
As long as there is up-front and easily-seen disclosure that a blogger is being paid to promote a product or service, so what?! I’m not stupid. You’re not stupid. We know ads and slanted posts when we read them. Michael Brooks/HistoryMike is a great example. He has a very insightful, and worth-reading blog about current events (international, national and Toledo-area), book reviews . . . and even PPP posts.
When he posts his PPP posts, I scan right through them. For the most part, I don’t care. But, from the majority of his posts, I know (or, assume) the segue and personal info around his PPPs are genuine. So, I might scan more slowly or even follow a link if it’s of interest.
Because I trust the blogger. In many instances, I disagree with Google’s statment that, “Unfortunately, not all websites have users’ best interests at heart.” (That is true often, but those times are rare.)
Mike is transparent.
And, so are most bloggers.
So, Mr. Googles, don’t penalize good, transparent bloggers who are trying to make a buck but still offer quality content. Let search engine visitors decide if the content is worthwhile. Don’t try to put forth some utopian stance.
– Mike
Thanks to Jason Calacanis for the pointer to the Google Webmaster Tools link.
