So, Google is going around knocking down people left, right and centre with their page ranks of a few blogs (including, but not limited to: Problogger, John Chow, Copyblogger, Quick Online Tips and Adesblog). A large part of the blogging community is up in arms saying “How can Google do this?!?! It’s evil!”, to me – and this may be a boastful post because I’ve survived it – I’m just going to do what I always do.
Blog.
Am I going to remove Text Link Ads? No (sold another one today, score!), am I going to take the link out of Technorati Tag Generator? No. Am I going to ask all the people who have ever linked to me to take their links and shove them up their jacksy? No. I’m just going to keep on blogging. Why. Because, after 5 years, 2 bloggie nonimations and the fact that I’ve earnt about two grand from it, the drivel I have spurted has worked wonders, so why change the habit of a lifetime?
I will now alleviate all your fears too.
“I Will Not Be Found In Search Engines!”
Just how useful is search engine traffic anyway? I mean, I usually get 500-750 hits per day on this blog, of which, 40 come from Google. They never subscribe, and rarely stay for more than 5 seconds, after they have found that this site doesn’t contain “Rhys having sex with an elephant”. Sorry, but I’d rather lose 40 people from search engines, rather than shag Dumbo, just because it’s “what Google wants”. Christ, who do you think I am, Matt Mullgawegang?
“I Won’t Be Able To Sell Adverts!”
I cope, and I’m not huge. I sell my ads via traffic, not through Page Rank. I have 175 subscribers, and over 500 hits per day, and can still make a pretty penny from it, so why can’t you?
Even if you rely on Page Rank to sell Adverts, then that may change, you may get a new form of advertising nobody has even dreamt up, and you’ll still make your millions yet.
“Nobody Will Read My Stuff!”
Au Contraire, just use the techniques us old bloggers used to do to get readers, write, comment, repeat. But now, you have the added bonus of Social Bookmarking. Get your sites on them, especially Stumbleupon – on an average day it sends me 30 people.
Search engines are good for exactly that – searching for things, things like tables and flights and rare chinese ornaments and the answer to who won the 1924 FA Cup final (before you ask, Newcastle United. Beat Aston Villa 2-0). They are not particularly good for searching for blogs.
Ask yourself this, look at your feed reader, and how many blogs on it have you found by search engines? Mine is quite close to zero, if indeed that. Blogging by it’s nature doesn’t do well in search engines, it needs people, it needs interaction, it needs people to say “You know that Welsh blog, he’s fucking funny, isn’t he?”. It doesn’t need people who are devoid of sunlight in a dark room
So, to bloggers, especially those who took a hit (a partially full list is here), don’t worry, you’ve got your health, you’ve got your regulars, and you probably won’t notice that you are getting 5% less traffic.
And to Google? Well, in the immortal words of Rage Against The Machine – one of the last great philosophers of the modern era:
Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me.
Comments: 21 Comments
Rhys Wynne, the author of this blog, is a 20 something web designer from Colwyn Bay. 
Well said Rhys! What we need right now is more bloggers to take a firm stand and get back to writing for readers.
Here here! But wait, what if I want to make money? I’ve got mostly websites and to make any cash I need Google. I think PR is a crock of poop but I definately need that SE traffic. But after seeing all this I still want to say ‘to hell with them!’ …but I won’t.
Spot on!
As regards search engine referrals PR doesn’t seem to matter, it’s the subject matter that’s important. My celebrity blog is a PR0 but still averages 599 search engine referrals a day – and 87% of those are from Google.
Mike.
Damn straight, and it’s the attitude everyone should take.
“But I can’t live without Google!”
No, Google can’t live without us. The amount of people who have been dropping advertisers, deleting links etc. is almost laughable. Er, how much have Google ever paid you, compared to your advertisers?
My site’s been around since 2002 and I never knew what pagerank was until just a couple months ago. Much to my surprise, my site had a PR4 until Tuesday when I got slapped down to 2. Does it changes what I do with my site? No, although it might affect the $15 I make with my site. Boo hoo. I got along fine before it. I think I’ll be fine.
i will agree, they have actually hit alot of the sites i read that i did not find from google. I only worry that my site would be hit since what i do has to do with alot of linking etc.
It has been mentioned for quite some time that Google are planning to drop PageRank. I certainly think it is a good idea.
Ironacly, I had a dream a few nights ago that I got upgraded to a PR 8
I don’t think that will be happeneing in a hurry.
Sorry, Rhys, but I don’t agree. I have been blogging at The Exile for exactly two years. New postings almost every day, lots of original stuff, and the hit counter never gets above a 100. OK, that’s fine, but the notion that content = hits is a myth.
Google has screwed us. Let’s stop the denials and admit that the sponsored postings are going to pay less if the site has been downgraded. A GPR-5 will get about $25.00+ for a posting, a GPR-3 is lucky to pull in $15.00. Let’s face the reality of our situation…
My solution? Well, the long version you can read here. The quick version is that Yahoo should take up the slack and give us a widget with a numerical value that reflects out back links.
You hit the nail on the head buddy. Even i am not going to remove the TLA or any other thing even if it affects my PR. I feel i have a good enough community around my blog and that is enough for me.
The fact of the matter is that even though my Pagerank has now dropped (it’s now either a 3 or a 2), I have more subscribers than ever, more hits than ever and more linkbacks and authority (in technorati) than ever.
Sure, I’m now PR3, but I’m not going to give up £50 a month to get me into PR4. For what? I don’t do paid reviews, just paid links. People only find my blog by searching for “Rhys”. I can cope with that )
Ironically, my Fair Review Website is now a PR4
Wha wha wha. I don’t know what the hell everyone’s whining about. You think the majority of your visitors or potential visitors give a crap what your google pagerank is, or even know that it exists?
Excactly! I care more about my readers than page rank. I’ve been hit however, and I will blog about it next week
I can’t believe this – it happened at 4.00am. Both my blogs jumped to a GPR-4. One was a three and the other unranked.
OK, so I’m one of the winers, but the point that I made earlier still stands – we need a successor to GPR.
Thank you, sir. I have written a few blogs on this subject lately. Just keep writing quality, as you define quality, and people will either come or they won’t. Either way, you will be able to live with yourself. Bravo, Rhys!
heh, i stumbled here =D