Victim of the Google Slap
by Ms. Babble on July 9, 2009
in Realizations
It’s an epidemic and I’m not immune.
2 out of 3 decently page ranked websites of mine (including this site) have been victims of the “Google Slap”.
What does that mean? Well, Google assigns a rank from 1-10 to all websites and website pages listed in their index. The higher the number, the greater importance Google considers that website or page.
There are several factors that determine a website’s page rank including the number of quality websites linking to it and the number of links on the site to others. A simplified way to look at it is that website links act as “votes”.
This particular website of mine, AmericanBabble.com, is a relative dinosaur at 3 years old compared to other sites actively running online right now. Over that time, my page rank once topped off at 5 which is kind of miraculous for a personal blog.
But as of today, Google has snubbed me. I’ve got a big fat zero page rank.
Where did I go wrong? Well, big brother Google never reveals exactly why they turn their backs on certain websites but I can safely deduce why. They’ve caught me selling links in my sidebar. Because I had such a rockin’ page rank, I was able to sell links in my sidebar for a decent price and a nice little deposit into my Paypal account every month.
Unfortunately, these links aren’t considered “natural” by Google and websites who participate in link selling don’t conform to their “Don’t be evil” motto. And because Google has such a stranglehold on web traffic, we simply have to conform to their rules and whims.
Luckily, page rank doesn’t effect search results significantly so I’m still showing up in the SERP’s… but! It’s more of a pride thing than anything else. When looking at a websites stats, it’s nice to see a beefy Google page rank number assigned to it. When I see a website with a page rank of zero, I think one of two things: Either that website is less than 3 months old, or, they’ve done something naughty.
Add me to the naughty list, I guess.
Without further adieu, where you once saw paid links…. now you don’t:
Popularity: 2% [?]
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Actually Jami Google are gonna be the new monopolists since they control everything we do about the web one way or another, unfortunately the kind of monopolists who amuses you to death.
I’ve definitely got a love/hate relationship with Google. Their core values are really great (penalizing people for being evil, weeding out the crappy advertisers and websites, etc). I’m just sore for getting caught, I guess!
Your blog still rocks. Think of it this way you made a bleep on a global screen.
How do I find out my Google Number?
Also, do you know how to use a software called Drupal?
I’m trying to takeover webmaster duties for an M.I.A. webmaster who helped us launch the nonprofit where I work http://www.oraminternational.org. We can pay for a few hours training, just so I learn how to add new clips and press releases to our pressroom. Interested?