I don't know how genuine this message is, but I just got an "URGENT" email from one of the internet marketers urging his subscribers to get out of all Blog Networks they may belong to as fast as they can.
It appears that Google's latest hunt is after Blog Networks and those who rely on posting to such networks just for the sake of getting a backlink... Here's the message:
[...]As you know, I'm one of the very last people to make much ado
about nothing. While others were trying to get you to buy
products about mobile stuff, Google +1 and so on, I've always
been cautious and advised a slow, measured approach.
However, this update IS urgent.
I wanted to wait to confirm this properly first, and now that I
have some confirmation on this:
Google is deindexing and aggressively targeting blog networks AND
their users.
If you're using popular networks like LinkVana, Build My Rank and
similar such things, I advise that you stop building new links
with them...at least until this gets sorted out.
BMR's whole network was deindexed recently (or at least most of
it), and I have at least 4 confirmed reports of sites being
deindexed that relied on it exclusively (no other linkbuilding).
If you're following the advice in [this marketer's own system], you're
doing alright (just stay away from the content networks). If
you're a member of any place like Traffic Kaboom, LinkVana, Build
My Rank and such - don't build new links there.
My Personal View on this:
Now, I know a lot of us have the knee-jerk reaction of 'big evil
Google is at it again!', but I think this is a different case.
Google is trying to eliminate networks and content sources that
serve no function other than to serve as a link to something
else.
See, Google's purpose has been to avoid and remove content that
is not user oriented. What we're seeing is a side-effect, not an
attack on IM in general. So consider for a moment that there
exist 5000 blogs, each with roughly 10,000 pages/posts on each
(that's around 50 million pages of content) that serve NO purpose
to the average search engine user. These 50 million pages have
just one role - to serve as a 'link source' or a gateway to the
some other site.
Obviously, Google has every reason to eliminate such pages from
their index. Of course, as a side-effect, all of the sites that
relied heavily on these networks get hit as well and lose all of
their linking power (which is why my methods focus on diversity).
So yeah, it stinks that this is happening, but it would've
happened eventually. And it's not an attack on affiliate
marketing in my opinion - it's an attack on junky content sites
with no value to the average user.
So what's the solution?
Wowzers...this is getting to be a long email ain't it?
First off - try to get links from EXISTING pages, not pages that
are created to provide links...catch my drift? Blog commenting,
social bookmarking, profiles, signature links - these all work
because most of these link sources exist for user benefit. These
were not created just to provide links to others.
I have also been using some personal .edu links from very high PR
blog sources that I got here: [link to a WSO follows]
What is your comment on this? Is BU "safe"?
Nat
