I am sure this comment will be discounted by all the SEO pundits out there, but I really think that some of these sites got slammed on their Google page rank over the past couple of days because a large percentage of them have a high percentage of links on their sites that intra-link and rarely link outwards. Granted while a few were playing the paid text link ad game not all were.
Additionally, a large number of the sites to come public largely link to other properties within their own networks, which indicates that Google is looking to make sure each of those properties can stand on their own without being propped up by a sister site.
While I hate to see anyone’s Page Rank penalized, I am sure that the SEO will figure out pretty quick what Google has done, and make changes to websites.
Or how about this as a thought? Maybe Google has figured out some of the new SEO games that are being pulled that I alluded to on Saturday, and is putting the hammer down!
Several months ago my site went from a PR7 to PR6 and I have never been able to figure out what happened. It really does not matter as the traffic to the website has stayed the same but it was disappointing.
A lot of these sites that got hammered also use the in-text advertising that is so annoying, which makes it nearly impossible to find a legitimate link on the site. Maybe Google put some usability rules into place.
I did do some review on this site’s templates today and found some links that needed a no follow added, so just in case that is what is causing sites to get hammered I want to make sure we have been proactive as possible.
So what’s your take? Why do you think Google has put the hammer down on so many supposedly popular websites?