From the other thread, you know where I stand. :)
I'm curious how this will affect things down the line. I think at some point you have to assume that Google gets as smart as a human in figuring out the "proper value" of a link. That is, they are able to semantically parse the context of a link and assess its value much the same as a human would.
I don't think this is so far-fetched BTW. This is Google's goal and they're getting closer with each update. Keeping search engine results relevant is how they stay popular with end users.
What does this mean for those that continue to sell links that pass page rank? I could see two alternatives:
- Once Google is smart enough to assess the value of a link, it no longer cares whether it's paid or not. If the link is not very relevant, it's not worth much in Google's eyes, and therefore these links will command less market value.
- Google uses the vast amount of information at its disposal to correlate paid text link campaigns, and is able to harshly punish these links.
It's kind of scary that one company can affect the fortunes of so many, but in the end keep in mind that links only have market value because Google created the market with an algorithm that could be gamed. If Google did not have such a big portion of search traffic, would passing PageRank matter so much? Think about what you're asking for when you're demanding to have your PageRank back — it's not yours, and it never was. It's what Google thinks about you, and so long as you play on their turf you have to play by their rules.
Maybe this is a good signal to diversify. :)
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