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Snoskred
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1 year ago
in Wrong Reaction From Techcrunch On Paid Links? on Andy Beard - Internet Business Systems Discussion
Duncan,
Surely you can't be serious? Your sponsors pay you. You link to them. Those links pass on page rank. That is a paid link! They paid, you linked! Do you not get that? Do you think your sponsors sponsor in a vacuum, you're the only site they're paying? Of course you're not the only site they are paying.
Your sponsors are gaming Google just as much as any company who ever used a pay per post campaign. It is absolutely no different to what happens with pay per post, only you get paid a lot more than a Postie would.
Either it is all gaming, or none of it is. You can't have your cake and eat it too on this one.
The bigger problem here is - Google are trying to drive competitors out of business. I don't know what messed up laws they have in the US, but in Australia where I live, that kind of behaviour is against the trade practices act. Google is *already* being taken to court by the ACCC regarding sponsored links.
Who knows who or what is next? The only thing any of us can do is stop using google, and try to convince others to do the same. We have NO power. They have ALL the power.
Explain the difference between paid links and paid advertorials. If one advertiser paid for both, the links link to the same place, right? It is just that an advertorial (or review) contains actual CONTENT. Content is what we bloggers are supposed to create. Not just linking to people.
How would you feel if a company you created was being treated the way Ted's company is being treated? Honestly? Wouldn't it suck? Don't you see that ALL companies on the web could find themselves in this boat, if Google keep changing the rules and never tell anyone what those rules are? You know why they won't come out and say what is going on? Because it is ILLEGAL in some places in the world - my country, possibly the EU. What they are doing is illegal, so they can't admit to it.
Snoskred
Surely you can't be serious? Your sponsors pay you. You link to them. Those links pass on page rank. That is a paid link! They paid, you linked! Do you not get that? Do you think your sponsors sponsor in a vacuum, you're the only site they're paying? Of course you're not the only site they are paying.
Your sponsors are gaming Google just as much as any company who ever used a pay per post campaign. It is absolutely no different to what happens with pay per post, only you get paid a lot more than a Postie would.
Either it is all gaming, or none of it is. You can't have your cake and eat it too on this one.
The bigger problem here is - Google are trying to drive competitors out of business. I don't know what messed up laws they have in the US, but in Australia where I live, that kind of behaviour is against the trade practices act. Google is *already* being taken to court by the ACCC regarding sponsored links.
Who knows who or what is next? The only thing any of us can do is stop using google, and try to convince others to do the same. We have NO power. They have ALL the power.
Explain the difference between paid links and paid advertorials. If one advertiser paid for both, the links link to the same place, right? It is just that an advertorial (or review) contains actual CONTENT. Content is what we bloggers are supposed to create. Not just linking to people.
How would you feel if a company you created was being treated the way Ted's company is being treated? Honestly? Wouldn't it suck? Don't you see that ALL companies on the web could find themselves in this boat, if Google keep changing the rules and never tell anyone what those rules are? You know why they won't come out and say what is going on? Because it is ILLEGAL in some places in the world - my country, possibly the EU. What they are doing is illegal, so they can't admit to it.
Snoskred
1 reply
1 year ago
in ZeroRank – More PageRank Carnage (Round 5) on Andy Beard - Internet Business Systems Discussion
Yep, I'm now a 0. A fellow blogger emailed me this morning to let me know - they knew I had vowed to stop checking PR.
I'm no longer a Google user. I use Dogpile for searches, Bloglines for blog reading, my own email server for email..
What Google are doing is potentially illegal here in Australia. It certainly breaches the trade practices act in my opinion. I am not a lawyer myself but it seems fairly obvious. The ACCC already has one case against them regarding sponsored link results. I may be the first blogger to contact the ACCC regarding this apparent breach of the law, but I do not believe I will be the last. I would suggest that any Australian blogger who has been affected should call the ACCC on 1300 302 502 (Australian callers) or + 612 6243 1305 (overseas callers) to discuss the situation.
In the meantime I can only suggest that we all stop using Google as much as possible. Vote with your mouse.
Snoskred
I'm no longer a Google user. I use Dogpile for searches, Bloglines for blog reading, my own email server for email..
What Google are doing is potentially illegal here in Australia. It certainly breaches the trade practices act in my opinion. I am not a lawyer myself but it seems fairly obvious. The ACCC already has one case against them regarding sponsored link results. I may be the first blogger to contact the ACCC regarding this apparent breach of the law, but I do not believe I will be the last. I would suggest that any Australian blogger who has been affected should call the ACCC on 1300 302 502 (Australian callers) or + 612 6243 1305 (overseas callers) to discuss the situation.
In the meantime I can only suggest that we all stop using Google as much as possible. Vote with your mouse.
Snoskred
1 reply
Suzette
I guess that's why Google never made official announcement on this - they won't confirm their commitment in antitrust/anticompetition activities, very serious case!
1 year ago
in Will Google Offer Amnesty To SocialSpark & PayPerPost Bloggers? on Andy Beard - Internet Business Systems Discussion
Well I just discovered that I have been penalized also - down to a 3 from a 4 at www.snoskred.org so let's party! ;) I'm having a competition to celebrate.
I have to agree with Michael, I'm done with Google. I no longer care what they do to me. I will survive without them if I have to. I'm going to run my blog my way, and I'm not going to let what they might do to me change that.
I really am tired of having their big foot hanging over my head. I have to try and create a blog which won't be affected if they decide to squish me with their foot. That's the challenge now.
I don't think they even care how much anger and resentment they are creating. Again, I say we have to take our power back. We gave the power to them. We can remove it.
Andy, what are the chances of holding a No-Google day - or perhaps a no google week, from December 24 ending at Midnight on December the 31st? I've heard people whispering about it for a while, let's do it and show them we're unhappy. Maybe then they'll realise they don't have the power they think they do.
Cheers,
Snoskred
I have to agree with Michael, I'm done with Google. I no longer care what they do to me. I will survive without them if I have to. I'm going to run my blog my way, and I'm not going to let what they might do to me change that.
I really am tired of having their big foot hanging over my head. I have to try and create a blog which won't be affected if they decide to squish me with their foot. That's the challenge now.
I don't think they even care how much anger and resentment they are creating. Again, I say we have to take our power back. We gave the power to them. We can remove it.
Andy, what are the chances of holding a No-Google day - or perhaps a no google week, from December 24 ending at Midnight on December the 31st? I've heard people whispering about it for a while, let's do it and show them we're unhappy. Maybe then they'll realise they don't have the power they think they do.
Cheers,
Snoskred
1 reply
Bob King
I took a severe hit, down from pr 5 to pr 3 - it definitely affects my bottom line, but even more frustrating, it affects my apparent credibility.
And that really annoys me. You see, I come from a newspaper background, and to me, the absence of advertising strongly implies the lack of any influence. I'm nowhere near the print-media ideal of 60% - which I think excessive, frankly. But I do think of relevant, screened advertising as being an enhancement.
As for paid posts - well, frankly, I think it a lot more honest to do a paid post than it is to belong to something like "Pajamas Media." Either way, one is paid. But in order to succeed as a "postie" (for whatever service) you really do ultimately have to tell the truth.
More importantly, in order to stand out from the crowd of crap traffic producers, you have to come up with something new. For instance, when I "shilled" for LED xmas lighting, it occured to me that red led christmas lights were as good or probably better than whatever the military provided the Marines for bunker lighting, and would not strain power sources or screw with night vision.
So I suggested that Army Moms and Dads throw a string or six into a care package - and even took the extra step of looking for tiny generators that could live in a dufflebag thrown into the back of a humvee.
SEO and such makes my eyes roll, to be honest. I've never paid a whole lot of attention to it. Frankly, I realized early on that I had a choice - I could right good posts - or I could do kinda crappy posts that sucked in engines.
I'm a Blogger, Jim, not an SEO guy.
I'd just as soon that you guys did what you do, just like I do, and the engines paid attention to that, but I'd also like them to remember that most of us do not care about gaming the system, so long as the system works.
And if it stops working, we are simply going to find another system, 'because we really are not all that invested in ANY search engine. Not even Google.
And that really annoys me. You see, I come from a newspaper background, and to me, the absence of advertising strongly implies the lack of any influence. I'm nowhere near the print-media ideal of 60% - which I think excessive, frankly. But I do think of relevant, screened advertising as being an enhancement.
As for paid posts - well, frankly, I think it a lot more honest to do a paid post than it is to belong to something like "Pajamas Media." Either way, one is paid. But in order to succeed as a "postie" (for whatever service) you really do ultimately have to tell the truth.
More importantly, in order to stand out from the crowd of crap traffic producers, you have to come up with something new. For instance, when I "shilled" for LED xmas lighting, it occured to me that red led christmas lights were as good or probably better than whatever the military provided the Marines for bunker lighting, and would not strain power sources or screw with night vision.
So I suggested that Army Moms and Dads throw a string or six into a care package - and even took the extra step of looking for tiny generators that could live in a dufflebag thrown into the back of a humvee.
SEO and such makes my eyes roll, to be honest. I've never paid a whole lot of attention to it. Frankly, I realized early on that I had a choice - I could right good posts - or I could do kinda crappy posts that sucked in engines.
I'm a Blogger, Jim, not an SEO guy.
I'd just as soon that you guys did what you do, just like I do, and the engines paid attention to that, but I'd also like them to remember that most of us do not care about gaming the system, so long as the system works.
And if it stops working, we are simply going to find another system, 'because we really are not all that invested in ANY search engine. Not even Google.
You write :I don't know what messed up laws they have in the US, but in Australia where I live, that kind of behaviour is against the trade practices act. Google is *already* being taken to court by the ACCC regarding sponsored links.
My comments: Can you share me a link to a blog/site that mentions that Google is being taken to court in Australia? I am really interested in this one. For some days, I have been thinking that somewhere the law must have answer to all this.