If you’ve noticed that the lastest Google PageRank update has distilled your site’s PageRank (Toolbar PageRank that is) because Google believes that you are selling links or up to other ways to mislead the Google algorithm or break their Webmaster Guidelines, and you are not, there is a way to redeem yourself with Google.
As an example, b5 media member Problogger.net was one of the major blogs hit by the Google PageRank update, with its PageRank dropping from PR 6 to PR 4. b5 media says that Problogger.net doesn’t sell paid links, nor does CopyBlogger. Problogger.net and CopyBlogger are now a PR 6 and PR 7 again, respectively.
[Of course PageRank rose for some sites and your drop may not be about selling links.]
Jeremy Wright of b5 shares with Search Engine Journal readers :
Many of our sites that were hit were NOT selling links, and never had (www.copyblogger.com among them).
This update *was* about text links, … but tens of thousands of sites that had NEVER sold text links were mistakenly penalized as well.
Hitting up Google in the WMC and asking for reinstatement for this sites WILL work, though
So, how does one hit up Google Webmaster Central to Ask for Reinstatement?
- First, make sure that you are not breaking the Google Guidelines or selling links which would lead to your PageRank score falling. You don’t want to go telling Google you’ve changed your ways when you haven’t and you certainly do not want to say that you never did something they are frowning against, when you do.
- Then log into Google Webmaster Tools (if you do not have a Google Webmaster Tools account then create one, and validate your site with them.)
- Select “Request reconsideration” from the Dashboard on the right hand side.
- Then read the fine print very carefully. By requesting reconsideration, you’re telling Google that you have violated the Webmaster Guidelines in the past and to your best knowledge, are no longer violating them. If you break the guidelines in other ways, be sure to address those changes before reporting your site changes to Google (because you might be opening up a huge can of worms).
- Request Reconsideration : Have everything together and sure your site is meeting the Webmaster Guidelines, then fill out the form, tell them about the changes you made, and hit the Request Reconsideration button.
[Just remember folks, this PageRank update is still rolling out, so before taking action, you may want to wait and see the final result of the changes.]
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Comments
23 responses so far ↓
forcer on Oct 29, 2007 at 3:18 pm
I still don’t understand why would you care about Pagerank if you don’t want to sell links? There are many posts & threads that recent Pagerank drops has nothing to do with any kind of penalty that could affect SERPS. Am I wrong?
Jonathan Dingman on Oct 29, 2007 at 3:41 pm
*Correction, CopyBlogger.com actually moved up to a PR7 instead of staying at aPR6.
From the looks of it, it appears they made a real pagerank update instead of just “laying down the law” to link sellers.
What’s even more interesting is that sites that are buying links weren’t really affected at all, only sites selling.
Scott Hendison on Oct 29, 2007 at 4:41 pm
Forcer:
You know PR doesn’t matter for ranking, I know it, but clients are the ones that care. I was attracted to this post because a couple of clients got dinged unfairly…
Jonathan:
Yeah, I saw that too, where copyblogger as actually higher! But they can’t penalize people for BUYING links or there would be a new market open up for buying your competitor enough links to drive them into the ground!
Photoshop Ninja on Oct 29, 2007 at 4:48 pm
Nice article….I just downloaded Webmaster tools, thanks for the recommendation. I just went from a 0 to a 2 PR in about 3 weeks just messing around with SEO as a hobby. I don’t have any keywords in Google yet, but its a slow process. I think link farms and link selling should be penalized. Also that can inadvertently help others move up in keyword ranking if said sites are banned or penalized. What is your standing on link trading? Is that consider buying/selling if there is no monetary correlation? I get solicitations for link trading on some of the other sites I’ve done, is that legit?
batteryfast on Oct 29, 2007 at 11:09 pm
Is anyone know how google judge that a site have sold link or not? I suppose that it is a problem for google and webmasters.
Raden Payas on Oct 30, 2007 at 12:23 am
This is the most undesirable thing google has ever made…
champi on Oct 30, 2007 at 2:29 am
You can simply check in the wayback machine to see if anyone sold links in the past.. I think almost everyone did.
alexiz on Oct 30, 2007 at 4:03 am
I don’t understand why google has to do this? Why penalize sites that sell links? Google sells links. Why not let webmasters earn a little for things that they have worked hard from.
Alphane Moon on Oct 30, 2007 at 5:25 am
No, i don’t buy it. This is not about selling or buying links. Why should the PageRank of sites selling links be lowered and not simply set to Zero? Those sites could also silently be stripped of the ability to pass PageRank. This would be difficult to detect.
James on Oct 30, 2007 at 9:14 am
Why bother getting yourself all worked up over PR when it doesn’t matter if you are ranking well in your respective key phrases? People should be more concerned over WHERE they rank as opposed to their PR. I would much rather be a PR3 and be on the first page then a PR4 and be buried on page 7. In the end it’s all about getting more traffic to your site and making that sale!
forcer on Oct 30, 2007 at 9:16 am
James:
I completely agree. Not sure why people here are complaining about pagerank where it should be about rankings.
Sourav on Oct 30, 2007 at 10:58 am
See, no one cares about PR and still everyone talking about it. We can’t fool ourselves. Inside deep into the heart - everyone watching the PR stuff closely and also reacting to it as well..
Pablo Palatnik on Oct 30, 2007 at 11:28 am
I think it’s an old school way of thinking that is stirring this up when people thought (and still do for those who don’t follow this closely) that page rank is a factor in organic rankings. Now, I have two theories about Googles Pagerank on my post, Paid Links Don’t Hurt Your PageRank Right? Matt Cutts? Page Rank, like it or not, relevant or not, has become a measurement tool, and as we clearly see, given a lot of attention and importance.
Amanda on Oct 30, 2007 at 12:01 pm
last time i looked @ tla when they offered their display of sites they had problogger listed in their accounts with links sold??
mark on Oct 30, 2007 at 6:24 pm
Argh, Two of my main sites dropped from 5 to 4, and a couple others did 1 rank too. But like others said, it doesn’t matter much anymore as my sites still rank well. :)
google publicidad on Oct 30, 2007 at 10:25 pm
I recently read copyblogger´s experience and how they not just recovered their pagerank, but how they have now a PR7.
Selling links is now a daily matter, the worst case I´ve seen is the aviva directory, they were lost in Google natural results. They are back in, but with a poor PR4.
M. Yasir on Oct 31, 2007 at 12:30 am
Loren, it’s almost clear that the websites that are involved in selling links are effected from this PR update (so called Google’s Crackdown against high Pr websites), and some of the websites like copyblogger, problogger and youtube that were effected mistakenly were recovered later but what is your openion regarding the websites that are involved in placing their links on their industry relevant websites?
I’m very confused, because at one end Google is suggesting webmasters in their webmaster guidelines to:
- Have other relevant sites link to yours.
- Submit your site to relevant directories such as the Open Directory Project and Yahoo!, as well as to other industry-specific expert sites.
Do you think that anyone can get a quality link for free for their website? 2ndly Yahoo!, business.com and lot more… charges heavy amount to place a link in their directory, so considering this factor their PR shall be drop from 7 to 0 because they are officialy selling links.
Crackdown against the websites offering irrelevant paid links make sense but………..
anyways, please share your thoughts on buying links….
Richard Burckhardt on Nov 1, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Frankly I don’t particularly care about PR anymore. I don’t sell links anyway. But, apparently Google thinks I do and dropped my PR a notch. I posted my experience on my blog. Let’s see, the all powerful Google is now chasing ghost link selling…
Jeffrey Henderson on Nov 2, 2007 at 11:51 am
I had a lot of sites jump in PR, and a couple fall, yet all the rankings stayed the same or improved.
Stop jocking the PR bar go have a drink. It’s Friday for god’s sake.
Samsonite on Nov 3, 2007 at 6:43 am
After update we get only PR2 but we are still in SERP in first positions. If we get PR4 is it something change in SERP? Are Google calcualting PR4 in SERP?
CBR on Jan 30, 2008 at 12:19 am
I’m not sure how Google determines what a paid link is but it’s been said that SERPS are what counts and that is 100% bang on the money. I’ve said it before page rank does not pay the bills. Just for the record we had sites go down and sites go up.
Communication on Feb 7, 2008 at 9:45 am
We knew companies wich selling links and their PR go down rapidly. From PR 6 to PR 0. That is destiny of selling links. On the net is really full ell of linking farm, generators of links atc.
Sierra on Feb 25, 2008 at 6:43 pm
I agree this happend also to non selling links websites…
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