Sometimes we get an e-mail (or a blog comment) from someone who says their PageRank declined because they were buying links. This happens often enough that I thought I’d write something about why buying links is not good for search, period. It isn’t because Google is some mean, rotten pig. I mean, it actually makes sense.

Think about what Google’s job is. It’s to return the most relevant search queries for a particular search based on the parameters that searchers enter into a query box. What would happen if the top 10 search queries were there because someone paid for them to be there? Suppose you had to pay $10,000 to be in position No. 1 and each subsequent position below that cost just $100 less than the previous one. The guy in the 10th position, the last position on page 1, would pay $9,000 to be there. But what about every one else?

Suppose the payment system “filtered down” this way until the website in position No. 100 (page 10) paid $100. Everyone below that opted not to pay at all so they just fell in wherever Google decided to put them. What would happen if the system was based on money?

Eventually (and I’m betting it wouldn’t take long), no one would rely on search at all because everyone would know that the website on top was there because he paid the most money. His website may not be relevant to the actual search that I conducted, but he paid the most money so there he is.

How many people would search the Internet through Google if that’s the way search worked? Not many. Because why would anyone look for specific information if they had to sift through a bunch of paid-for listings to find the ONE item that was relevant and answered their question?

Paid links is an attempt to turn Google into just such a system. Because Google’s ranking algorithm is so heavily based upon the number and quality of inbound links, paid links actually serve to dilute link quality. It is assumed, and always has been, that website owners link to other websites out of a value that they hold for the other site. But if website owners linked out only because they were paid to then no one could trust the quality of the links. That’s why no one should want paid links contributing to ranking factors at Google or any other search engine.

In a recent interview with Aaron Wall, legendary “black hat” SEO Fantomaster commented that Google’s PageRank algorithm is based on a fallacious view of links. Is he right?

Let’s review what PageRank is and how it is calculated. If you’ve been around on the Internet for awhile then you know that PageRank is based on the concept that inbound links count as “votes”. The system was devised as a way for Google to examine a website’s authority based on how many other websites were linking to it and the quality of those links. Over the few years that this system has been in place, the algorithm has changed and shifted from merely counting numbers of links to analyzing several factors related to the quality of a link. But the basic underpinning of links as votes is still in place.

Fantomaster has a point when he says this is a flawed view of linking. A link does not necessarily equate with quality in the eyes of the linker. There are all sorts of reasons, as he points out, for one website to link to another, including disagreeing with a premise or an entire point that the linkee made on his or her blog. A link could be for the purpose of criticism, not praise.

So why is this system still in use when it is clearly based on a flaw? And why do so many Internet marketers still rely on it as a test of relevance and authority?

PageRank has its flaws, no doubt. It certainly is not a reliable test of authority, especially since many “so called” search engine optimization experts have used it to buy and sell links and to manipulate rankings and their own site authority through complex linking schemes. In the world of SEO, link building has become an industry of its own simply because of the PageRank algorithm.

Aaron Wall’s question to Fantomaster regarding the future of links – will the search engines get away from link evaluation for the purpose of determining authority and relevance – is a good question. I wish they would. I’d like to see a more complex measure in place that takes into account other factors like scalability, heavier emphasis of on-page factors, and more weight toward new websites that meet a specific query answer. But until something better comes along we are stuck with evaluating links.

If you publish AdSense on your website then you’ll be happy to know that you can now analyze your traffic and revenue through Google Analytics. Through Analytics you’ll be able to see what your top AdSense content is, top referrers for AdSense clicks, and AdSense trending. You can see the peak times of day for when you are earning revenue from clicks and even if there are better days of the week.

So how do you use this information for better website and on site search engine optimization? Take a look at your AdSense statistics. If you know what your top content is, your top referrers, and your best trending times then you can create more pages to appeal to the audience that is making you the most money. Powerful stuff for publishers.

This video should give you more insight into how Google AdSense and Google Analytics can work together to make you more money:

If you are serious about keeping your blog or website up to date with the latest search engine optimization and ranking protocols then at some point you may be faced with the decision to change your permalink structures just as John Furst recently did. There is more than one way to do this. The most obvious way is with a 301 redirect. Another way to do it is through your .htaccess file by using the Mod Rewrite to change the rules of your permalink structure.

Each method has its advantages and disadvantages. With 301 redirects, if you have a lot of inbound links to your website you’ll get to keep those. That’s important to understand. Because if you simply change the rewrite rules for your permalinks in your .htaccess then you’ll lose those links. Site visitors will be redirected to the correct permalink for sure, but you want to keep any link juice you’ve earned intact along the way.

While changing your mod rewrite rules in .htaccess is a quick and permanent way to redirect old URLs to new URLs that are more search engine friendly, please consider the long range link building implications that could create. You’ll have to start over with your link building and if you have blog posts that have been good link bait, keep in mind that you will lose those links. You may want to use the 301 redirect instead.

The economy may be sour overall, but the online economy is a mixed bag. A report from eMarketer shows that online sales have increased by around 70% for name brand manufacturers and retails while declining 61% for web-only businesses. So what’s that mean?

It means, first, that people are still spending money online. They are likely, as Frank Reed says, driving less and shopping online more – but when they do shop online they spend their money where they would have spent it had they drove. In other words, where the brand they trust exists.

That tells me that if you have a name brand that is a trusted brand off line then now may be a good time to increase your web presence. Revisit your search engine optimization strategy, start a blog, perform pay per click advertising, expand your website’s e-commerce offerings, etc. Make more available to your customers and make it easier for them to find you and they will shop your brand online.

A sitemap is a good tool to have, especially if you have a new website or your pages are not linked together very well. All the major search engines support sitemaps and having one (or more) on your site does not hurt it in any way.

Yes, I said more. You can have several sitemaps on one site, though most websites only need one. According to Google’s Sitemap Guidelines, a sitemap shouldn’t have more than 50,000 URLs listed. If you have more unique URLs than that then you should have more than one sitemap.

The best way to organizing your sitemaps is to create one for each section of your website and creating a master sitemap to list your sitemaps.

Another reason you might have multiple sitemaps is to serve special purposes. For instance, Google supports video sitemaps. If you have videos on your website then you might want to create a video sitemap. Other special sitemaps include:

• Mobile Sitemaps
• News Sitemaps
• Geo Sitemaps
• Code Search Sitemaps

These sitemaps serve Google and each has its own unique purpose. For more information on sitemaps visit sitemaps.org.

One of the best things about using Google AdWords in the past has been its ability to help webmasters discover new keywords and optimize their web pages better for the keywords already on their list. A new feature of the Google AdWords keyword tool is that it can do the same thing for webmasters with a local bent.

Use the keyword tool the same as you’ve always done (if you used it at all), but pay attention to the column for “Local Search Volume”. If you see any trends for local search then you can capitalize on those.

One of the biggest potentials this tool offers is for national advertisers and webmasters who also geotarget their services at the local level. You can use the tool to optimize your pay per click advertising campaigns as well as your on site search engine optimization. This tool has the potential to help you identify those searches that do well locally but not so much nationally. You can then target your search marketing efforts to the right geotarget markets without affecting your national campaigns. That’s pretty powerful stuff.