The goal of their research into paid links is to help users by providing better results to their queries. The only people who are going to lose out are the people who buy/sell links to manipulate the search engines.

As searchers, you and I are going to benefit by getting results that are present based on merit, not wallet size.

Originally Posted by Vasity

I think that this is more of a scare tatic that google is doing if they were to get away from the text links that add PR to your websites then it would reto-actively hurt Google even more as a search engine, with more search engines trying to come on the sceen I think this would be a horrible move for google to make, and many people this like I do that this is just some mis-informatino that Google is putting out.

Scare tactic ... retroactively hurt Google? Where do people come up with this stuff? Hint: Improving the quality of their search will help Google, but it won't be retroactive.

Can you think of even one search that wouldn't return quality results if paid links were ignored? I can't.

There's a lot of mis-information going on around here, and loud screaming. Google isn't saying no one can sell links anymore; just that they're going to eventually make it so those links don't carry any PR benefit. If you buy wisely, you'll still get traffic from those links, as in people clicking on them and visiting your site. Of course, a lot of paid links are along the bottom of the page in a very small font, so obviously, these won't bring much traffic, exist only to manipulate search rankings.

All of us use Google, almost every day, in ways that have nothing to do with our sites. How many times have you done a search and got nothing useful? Everybody stands to gain if the sites that make the first page are the good ones, instead of the get-rich-quick ones.

Originally Posted by Vasity

I think that people are less dependant on google then they think..If Google keeps raising such a stink it will loose it's place as # 2 search engine on the web..And I am sure Google would not want to do that....Surely not on purpose.

http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1397

**** that Total Internet Population, kicking the crap out of Google like that. 100% to 48%. Oh wait...Total Internet Population isn't a search engine. So that would make Google...umm...hang on, I have to go count here...1...ummm...err...looks like it's #1!

And Google isn't raising the stink. In fact, Google has said very little in this. The only person saying anything in this situation is Matt Cutts himself, and even he's not saying much (quite wisely, too.)

The people raising the biggest stink are the ones who feel they have the most to lose (i.e. the ones who are either buying or selling links for perceived search engine benefits). These are the SERP2+Phobia sufferers who believe that they need to comply with Google vs. building their own sites to take advantage of all traffic sources. But they have the POW-ah to change their ways, and so do we all.

sigmahotels: do you mean everyone is here for the sole reason that we want more Google traffic, or do you mean that one of the reasons everyone is here is because we want more Google traffic? I just realized that there's an ambiguity there that should be cleared up.

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

sigmahotels: do you mean everyone is here for the sole reason that we want more Google traffic, or do you mean that one of the reasons everyone is here is because we want more Google traffic? I just realized that there's an ambiguity there that should be cleared up.

I'm here because when I can't decide between a few options, knowing a little bit about Google can be a great tie-breaker. I welcome any traffic they want to send my way, and I'll do a little bit of work, within reason, to make that more. But my #1 source of traffic, accounting for about 40 % on average, is "other."

I think that people are less dependant on google then they think..If Google keeps raising such a stink it will loose it's place as # 2 search engine on the web..And I am sure Google would not want to do that....Surely not on purpose.

Whao i can't believe he is telling google is 2nd best SE, i wonder which is best.

Other than Google being the #2 search engine, this has been a really good discussion. People reading between the lines get a lesson in how to ideally run a business, and a key metric to look at. Like people said, if Google changes something in their algorithm and you get dropped, this should be an annoyance, not death.

Originally Posted by Learning Newbie

Other than Google being the #2 search engine, this has been a really good discussion. People reading between the lines get a lesson in how to ideally run a business, and a key metric to look at. Like people said, if Google changes something in their algorithm and you get dropped, this should be an annoyance, not death.

very true - look at it like this, good page listings in google or other major SE's represents free advertising, but not reliable.

About half my traffic comes from Google and Yahoo email.

You've got the kind of site that people will pass around, John...it's got useful, compelling content and there aren't a lot of people talking about the things on your blog that you are.