Google's Ghoulish Halloween Page Rank Update Penalizes Sites that Sell Links

Bleeecchhh! I've gone from a PR of 4/10 to a PR of 2/10 (insert expletive here) - boy, all from having a wee few paid links on my site? A gal just can't get ahead, LOL. While I'm not alone - the news about Google's Halloween page rank update is all over the web - it's a shame that my small site is lumped in with some of the bigger sites that sell text link ads such as The Washington Post , Forbes , Engadget , Search Engine Journal , etc. Technorati Profile

Most search engine experts will tell you that worrying about PR is a waste of energy and that Page Rank doesn't truly mean anything. Since my actual Google rankings are higher now than they ever were previously, I'm not that concerned. It just feels a wee bit like going out and forgetting to wear your lipstick and feeling a bit "off." <grin>

Some websites will actually see a Page Rank jump - but again, it may not really mean much. If the Google algorythm is shifting and devaluing many websites - you may see some changes simply because the sites that link to you aren't as powerful now. Also, it seems the experts agree that the type of links coming in to your site have relevance as well - if you get links in too fast, or they're more 'temporary' such as a trackback on a blog post rather than a permanent resource link from another site, it may have less relevance.

Ugh - all it means is what I've been saying for ages - you can't "buy" your seo nor can you game the search engines. You literally have to constantly build up great content and find normal ways to get noticed. If you spend as little as an hour or two per week adding content and visit industry forums and make occasional posts (with a link to your website in your signature) - you'll get good rankings.

If you'd like to check your current page rank across all Google servers - visit this link .

There is a lot of buzz about this around the blogosphere. Here are some of the blog posts: