As many as 60 directories, according
to this report, suddenly dropped in
rank, leading to suspicion that Google
has begun aggressively (and likely,
manually) targeting paid link directories
deemed to be in violation of the search
engine's quality guidelines. Some have
suggested competitor sabotage via the
recently initiated paid link reporting
form.
Some of affected directories included
Aviva, Alive, Big Web Links, ewebpages,
Directory Dump, Elegant Directory, and
Biz-Dir. David Eaves, the owner and
operator of Biz-Dir told WebProNews
that about 550 of his directory pages
have been dropped from Google's index
altogether.
Eaves admits to buying links, which
he considers a legitimate form of advertising,
but says Google gave him no notice that
his site was being penalized. Eaves
is considering dropping his paid links
in order to get his pages re-indexed
by Google.
It's important to note, though, that's
not necessarily the best course of action
for everybody. Eaves is obviously quite
concerned for SEO and directory clients,
and says he can sustain a decent rank
with natural links. And he says it wouldn't
hurt him to change the links he paid
for to nofollow, as the traffic from
those links outweighs the traffic he
gets from Google.
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