November 15, 2007
Google, Paid Links and White Fuzzy Bunnies
I love schtick comedy - I posted before about History of the World Part 1 and recently had a little daydream about Monty Python’s “Search for the Holy Grail” and paid links….just go with me, people.
Analogy time (aka. What I learned in photoshop class…….)
A group of people is moving down the road and they pass a few signs that say “dont go this way” and “road closed ahead” (aka - google’s warnings about paid links) but they keep walking in the same direction….eventually they get to the “roadblock” which in our analogy is a “harmless little bunny rabbit.”
They think about it - and then move forward - it’s just a harmless little bunny rabbit, right?
WRONG - IT’S GOT FANGS!!!!
We’ve been hearing and reading a lot about the FUD that Google has been breeding - Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt. I sort of have a hard time “buying in” to that concept - Google isnt the government, they’re not by the people - for the people - so really they can do whatever they want - they’re not Google.ORG - they’re google.com and they’re definitely “for profit.”
If they say don’t do it….there must be a reason.
For a long time Google (and Matt Cutts) have been saying, “dont buy paid links.” We were warned, many, many times - and recently Google brought the hammer down.
Now I dont necessarily think it’s “nice” and in some cases it’s not done judiciously - but really - it’s theirs so they can do what they want - and if we want Google traffic we play by the rules or we have to figure out a way to get around it (ie no follow all the links on your site.) I think there are sites out there that can survive a major drop in Google traffic - our travel & tourism clients dont fit into that category.
Moral of the story? If you want to stay in the Google index, dont piss off the bunny.
THE CAVEAT and a ”glitch?”
That being said they are still being a bit hypocritical w/ the dont buy paid links but TLA can buy adwords ads - even though Matt Cutts indicated that was a bit fishy during the “Are Paid Links Evil” session at SES San Jose.
Here’s a snap from tonight:



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