This latest round of Google PageRank downgrade has a bunch of webmasters tied up in a knot. On the surface, it sounds like a very bad thing and TechCrunch is even reporting that some sites will go under because of it. My feeling is that any site that goes under because of a downgrade in PageRank deserves to go under.
Situations Are What You Make Them
Any negative can be turned into a positive. Remember the first time Google slapped me? Many blogs were predicting the end of John Chow (some were even happy about it). Instead, my traffic went higher than ever because of all those blogs writing about the end of John Chow. In other words, those blogs more than replace the traffic that Google took away. Ironic, huh?
Every situation has two sides. Yes Google slapped a bunch of sites yesterday, including mine, and guess what? My traffic went up from all the buzz – people were checking out the sites being slapped. Also, I received enough new backlinks that I’ve moved into the 44th position on Technorati. The overall impact isn’t as great as the first Google slap because instead of just effecting me, it effected 1000’s of sites. In the long run, all these extra backlinks will be a positive and make Google irrelevant to my marketing strategy.
You Are The Only One That Matters
The truth of the matter is, Google doesn’t matter. The only one that matter is you and how you respond to a situation. When I was hit by the first Google slap, I had a choice: bend over backward and let Google dictate how things are done or be a evil pest and tell everyone they don’t matter. I decided to be a pest because it generates more buzz than falling in line. However, the main point is the decision was mine, not Google’s.
How Much Does a PageRank Downgrade Cost Me?
Traffic wise, a PR downgrade doesn’t cost me anything. I’ve noticed no decrease in search engine traffic so far and even if it does go down, it doesn’t matter. Google accounts for only 2% of total traffic and losing it all wouldn’t make much of a dent in the numbers.
I doubt it will affect my ability to sell links either, nor will it affect pricing that much. The last time I was at PR4, Text Link Ads sold my links for $200 per month. They increased the price to $240 when I went to PR6. Google’s mistake is thinking that every advertisers buys link for PageRank only. They don’t. Right now, PageRank is pretty much irrelevant. Want proof? Here you go.
StephenFung.net
Google PageRank: 5
RSS readers: 132Problogger.net
Google PageRank: 4
RSS readers: 34,538
The only thing Google has done is make link sellers come up with a new pricing system that won’t include PageRank. And with that, I have removed PageRank stat from my advertise page.