Last night Google decided to go after some of the bloggers in our network, reducing their PR from whatever they previously had to zero. Once again Google has proved that PR has little to do with blog traffic, influence or relevance and everything to defending their monopolistic stranglehold on search and online advertising.
It is no coincidence that Google has gone after some blogs that utilize PayPerPost and many of our competitors services. We offer a very attractive alternative to AdSense and are leading a charge to provide real monetization for everyday bloggers. Unlike the Google AdSense black box, we are palms up when it comes to revenue share and give bloggers the lions share of advertising dollars that they deserve.
I find it laughable that high profile bloggers like TechCrunch aren't being penalized in the same way. Perhaps it's the fact that they use AdSense. Perhaps it's the fact that they are silicon valley insiders and are invited to special Google events. Either way I don't see the difference between a sponsored post in our system or this sponsored post. Both are paid for, neither use no-follow.
While this has only effected a fraction of our bloggers it is significant enough that I have decided to fast track the release of IZEA's RealRank system prior to the role out of SocialSpark. This will cause a slight delay in Alpha key distribution as we need to implement a RealRank option in PayPerPost and that will take some work.
What does this mean for Advertisers?
If you are still using PR as your measure for influence you will be missing out on a lot a great blogs and bloggers. While the general population has maintained their ranking some of our better bloggers have been hit by Google. You may want to consider using Tacks and Alexa instead of PR for future campaigns until we implement RealRank.
What does this mean for Bloggers?
If you have been hit by Google unfortunately there is little we can do. We know that Google PR does not reflect your actual traffic and it is sad that Google chooses to over look that to protect their own bottom line. We now know from some of our friends inside of Google (thanks "bob") that they are now looking for phrases such as PPP, PayPerPost,ReviewMe, Payu2blog, etc. in the text of your post. For that reason I would suggest refraining from using any type of this text in the body of your posts, sponsored or not. When you disclose thank the sponsor, not PPP.
This is Censorship.
One of our programmers actually had his blog de-ranked last night
because he mentions PPP often as an employee. He has never taken a sponsored
post, nor does he sell sponsored links. He is simply blogging about his day to day experience here. I find this outrageous. I encourage you to write to Google and your Congressmen.
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Comments (RSS)
Rezon said...
@Mathew: Ita and here's what wikipedia says about censorship:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship
@dragonfly183: This article about antitrust may be helpful:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antitrust
@ Everyone: No matter what term you use, I don't think that congressmen can do anything to help the everyday blogger in a timely manner. I am not trying to add politics to the discussion I am saying that by the time they do an investigation, hold hearings, etc, that most everyday bloggers will be adversely and possibly irreversibly affected.
Nov 15, 2007 3:24:08 PM
Archit T said...
My blog's PR first dropped down from 3 to 2 and now it has reached 0!
Nov 15, 2007 3:44:16 PM
Kate said...
Fight back, Posties. Read it in the PPP forums, then hit them where it counts. Join the 'sell off Google stock' campaign.
Nov 15, 2007 3:45:01 PM
dragonfly183 said...
I don't expect them to be able to do anything quickly. its long term I'm thinking about
Nov 15, 2007 3:57:36 PM
teatree said...
You might wish to report this to the European Union's Competition Commissioner. They've already opened up an investigation of Google following Google's attempt to take over Double Click, and will be collecting evidence at the moment on monopolistic activity from anyone who can prove they are being hurt by Google's activities.
Basically the EU hates any monopolistic activity that affects EU citizens - and some of us posties are Europeans. The EU successfully stopped Microsoft from putting Internet Explorer everywhere, thereby creating an opening for Mozilla to grow. Essentially they prevented one American company from canabalising another (better) American company - and the result was beneficial for everyone.
Nov 15, 2007 5:07:52 PM
dragonfly183 said...
we would all love to report this. were actually discussing the investigation on the boards. No one knows who to contact.
Nov 15, 2007 5:11:27 PM
Rezon said...
I am sorry to be petty at a time like this but could someone please adjust the time on the boards? It appears that it hasn't been adjusted for DST.
Nov 15, 2007 5:27:57 PM
Owen said...
The idea of involving politicians is quite funny actually. Would you do that if, for example, you don't like the price Apple sells their iPod for?
Anyway, I have some thoughts on the subject here: http://www.u-g-h.com/index.php/2007/11/15/thoughts-on-google-pagerank/
Nov 15, 2007 6:08:44 PM
Jaz said...
PPP or IZEA, you CAN help. Suspend updating your blog information until the dance is over. When the dust settles, do not allow advertisers, even in the marketplace, to use PR for anything. You can help those of us that are drowning. Google is spanking us. You can come out on top, not only with your new IZEA stuff, but also with those of us who are being dropped like a rock just because we used your name in a bubblead.
You knew this was coming. Why didn't you stop the PR updating until it all stopped? Help us now. Stop it now.
Nov 15, 2007 6:43:44 PM
Tricia said...
SEVEN of my husband and I's blogs and my huge website went to zero sometime between yesterday and now. I know they all had PR yesterday because I was working with them but only checked them today, just now, as a result of this post.
So that's 8 of my sites! Ahhhhhhh!
Only two of my established blogs - the biggest ones with the most links to them and the most posts - have PR but I don't hold any hope that that will last long at this rate.
Obviously I don't do any paid posting on my website and don't use much advertising at all other than oops adsense and amazon.
What's really funny is that in the last three weeks or so ... since my sites started dropping ... my traffic on most of my blogs has doubled!
Thanks for pushing the Izea ranking system! I think that's something we've all been looking forward to for a while and it's even more important now than ever.
Nov 15, 2007 6:48:59 PM
dragonfly183 said...
i think they are going to use what our pr was before this mess started, there calling our historic rank. To bad i can't use my old 3's and 4's though :( They were gone two weeks ago.
Nov 15, 2007 7:23:58 PM
Andy Beard said...
The most reliable service to check changes currently seems to be oyoy.eu - I have been told it is actually run by someone who works for Google now.
http://oyoy.eu/google/pr/
Digpagerank.com seems to also be reporting good figures today.
As someone has pointed out in my own comments today, a drop to zero quite often just signifies a change is taking place, and does not necessarily mean that that will be the final result.
Nov 15, 2007 7:41:31 PM
Richard said...
I just checked myself and all but one of my sites are now 0's. Shadowscope is a 4 but there is no telling how long that will last. It was a 5 for a couple of years and I honestly thought it would have gone up prior to this fiasco.
Nov 15, 2007 10:02:11 PM
Suzette said...
I expected this to happen, and it really did! I thought it was just me, but looks like universe! If they are after those keywords, then be it. I will not remove or change those keywords: PPP, PayPerPost, ReviewMe, etc. I have too many to be removed/changed. Usually when these words were used, they are not sponsored. They have their value in my posts, and I will not remove them! This is really stupid going after those keywords.
You are very bold, to stand up and voice out on this. Thumbs up!
Nov 15, 2007 10:57:48 PM
Laura @ Laura Williams' Musins said...
Thank you for noticing this issue and doing something about it.
I was one of the ones that this has effected. In the course of the last few weeks since Google's rank update, I was at a PR4. About two weeks ago, they dropped me to PR2, yesterday they zapped me all the way down to PR0.
It sucks! I was having a lot more PPP opps available to me with the PR4 and now I have basically nothing... except for two on a Paintball opp that I have already done and can't do again.
Frustrated is an understatement.
Nov 16, 2007 10:16:34 AM
Sarah said...
I'm at a zero, as well, and I haven't done a paid post in awhile. Only "paid" links I have are LinkShare related ones, and I only get paid if someone buys through the links.
I just find it ironic that not even a week goes by since I publicly say on my blog that I got rid of the Google ads does my PR drop. It's been a roller coaster too, just like everyone else. Really starting to p. me off.
Thanks folks for making it so that we who are getting screwed by Google still have a shot at making some money, just in time for the holidays.
Nov 16, 2007 11:28:30 AM
Ghosty said...
If, however, you rely on Alexa, which has it's own serious flaws, you're not doing bloggers any service either.
Nov 16, 2007 12:12:41 PM
Linda said...
Looks like I have joined the ranks of those who have dropped to a zero. Last Sunday evening, in the middle of doing a post, I was dropped from a PR4 to a PR2 and now, less than a week later I am at a PR0 with so many others.
I don't want to whine about this but I really needed the money that doing paid posts was bringing in. As a single mother with no child support, I really needed that extra cash even though I had thought long and hard about even starting to do paid posts. In the big scheme of things, I haven't been doing them very long at all - only since September.
This seems incredibly unfair and I don't know why Advertisers continue to use the Google PR system. My Alexa score has actually improved during the time that my PR has gone from 4 to 0 so something truly seems rotten in Denmark. Truly!
Nov 16, 2007 12:56:38 PM
Search◊ Engines Web said...
Google just does not care or empathize with the concerns of small and medium business owners to compete successfully with the giants.
Nov 17, 2007 12:38:13 AM
Jaco said...
"Do no evil" didn't do much good here, did it. They could have capitalized on using PageRank as an indicator or worth, charge a tiny amount for it if they felt their gazzilions weren't enough, but now they, themselves, have made it worthless.
"Do no evil" is obviously being sat on by "make more money".
Nov 17, 2007 4:50:52 AM
Grant Glendinning said...
That's a shame. Come buy some garden furniture to cheer yourself up :)
Nov 17, 2007 6:50:10 AM
Grant Glendinning said...
That's a shame. Come buy some garden furniture to cheer yourself up :)
Nov 17, 2007 6:51:11 AM
Pro Investor Trader & AC Investor Blog said...
I’m sure that Ted won’t sell PPP for less than 10 to 12 million. I don’t know if you heard the last release of PPP,
when they come to public inform all community that they have nearly 7 million in cash, I don’t remember perfectly, but I think it was this kind of information, so no one in their perfect judgment will sell a company below its fair value. At this moment and based in actual advertising market, PPP should worth nearly 10 to 12 million. Look, I don’t know the
accounts of PPP, I’m just speculating, according to the latest information, nothing more. The market needs to be adapted to this new concept of advertising, but I have to confess that I’m very surprised with the attitude of Google staff; however PR is property of Google and we need to pressure PPP to put this action behind and bring us with a new and fair concept of ranking for blogs with high traffic. PPP go ahead, we are all waiting for you guys, please surprise us again……..
AC
Nov 17, 2007 10:06:22 AM
xBrain said...
google is suck..
why me?!
from pr6 to pr0
Nov 17, 2007 4:20:02 PM
Francisco Costa said...
It´s true...
Nov 17, 2007 9:01:48 PM