PinoyMoneyTalk.com

Last week, we wrote about WidgetBucks not appearing in the Google search results and hinted that www.widgetbucks.com might be banned by Google because of hidden text links.

A representative from WidgetBucks, Greg Harrison, responded and posted a comment in our article WidgetBucks is banned in Google and they know why denying our “conspiracy theory.”

Mr. Harrison explains that the Widgetbucks site had “page content issues that were causing the page not to be indexed properly.”

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It’s now confirmed. The Google PageRank (PR) update on October 25 that downgraded the PRs of hundreds of sites and blogs was Google’s way of saying it is serious in the campaign against buying and selling advertising links.

This was confirmed by Google employee and popular blogger Matt Cutts himself in an email sent to Search Engine Journal. The gist of the email:

The partial update to visible PageRank that went out a few days ago was primarily regarding PageRank selling and the forward links of sites. So paid links that pass PageRank would affect our opinion of a site.

Going forward, I expect that Google will be looking at additional sites that appear to be buying or selling PageRank.

Google has, for several months now, reiterated its aversion against the growing trend of paid text links in websites. Although Google’s Webmasters’ Guidelines has long advised site owners not to “participate in link schemes designed to increase your site’s ranking or PageRank,” the recent PR downgrade was one of Google’s first clear moves to curb this trend.

Some sites incorrectly penalized

Interestingly, however, a few websites that have not participated or have stopped participating in buying and selling of links were also penalized. Google initially slapped these websites with a PR penalty but revoked it after confirming that the sites are not (anymore) involved in paid links.

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Finally, my own story of a successful PayPal withdrawal.

On October 19, I requested a withdrawal of $73.55 worth of PayPal funds to my UnionBank EON account. On October 21, PayPal marked the transaction as “Completed” and two days later, the peso equivalent showed up in my EON account. All in all, the withdrawal request took 4 calendar days.

According to UnionBank’s Customer Support, PayPal funds received from merchants — those received from eBay buyers, for instance — usually take up to 11 calendar days before they are transferred to the UnionBank account.

However, normal PayPal transfers — that is, transfer of PayPal balance (not credit card funds) from one person to another — may only take 1-2 calendar days.

That explains why several withdrawal requests in the past had varying processing times. PMT member Biske withdrew PayPal funds on October 13 and received the cash four days later. Another member, jerometurner, got the funds after three banking days. Member smile experienced the fastest PayPal-to-UnionBank transfer; cash was transferred to the bank account after only one day.

To those who plan to withdraw and transfer PayPal to their UnionBank accounts, here is a step-by-step guide to do just that.

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Jen da Silva and Marylaine Viernes were the first to be evicted from Kuya’s house.

The ones up for eviction this week are: Megan Young; Zara Aldana; and Baron Geisler and Donald Geisler (2-in-1).

Who’s next to go? We’ll find out this week.

For those looking for more pictures and info of each Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition 2 housemate, visit their individual profile below.

• Will Devaughn - “True Lover”
• Megan Young - “Princess Of Charm”
• Riza Santos - “Desirable Diva”
  
• Ruben Gonzaga - “Komedyanteng Promdi”
• Victor Basa - “Lonely Dreamboy”
• Yayo Aguila - “Mom In Distress”
• Baron Geisler - “Wild Child” (2-in-1 with Donald)
• Marylaine Viernes - “Brainy Babe” (2-in-1 with Jennifer)
• Jennifer da Silva - “Despised Babe” (2-in-1 with Marylaine)
• Donald Geisler - “The Good Brother” (2-in-1 with Baron)
• Gabby dela Merced - “Extreme Sports Lover”
  
• Macoy Fundales - “Musikerong Dad”
  
• Zara Aldana - “Poor Beauty Queen”
• Jon Avila - “English Outcast”
• Ethel Booba - “Ultimate Pasaway”

Join the discussion of the Pinoy Big Brother TV show here.

This week, the US Federal Reserve (Fed) will speak and the market will listen.

After sifting through mixed corporate profit reports and uneven readings on the economy, Wall Street — and other stock markets around the world — will find out the answer to the long-debated question of whether another interest rate cut is in the offing.

The Fed, which meets Tuesday (October 30) and Wednesday (October 31), is in a bind. The credit markets remain squeezed, but energy and food costs are soaring and the dollar is tumbling. Controlling inflation and preserving market liquidity is one the central bank has always tried to balance, but the situation now has never been as precarious as before.

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Yay! Our syntax-mangling but cute and wise Star Wars character, Yoda, is now featured on a stamp released by the US Postal Service (USPS).

The USPS conducted an online voting in March this year to vote which of the 15 images on the Star Wars stamp sheet would be publicly released. More than half a million votes were cast and the Jedi Master trumped other characters in the Star Wars series.

The Yoda stamp is part of the USPS’s participation in the Star Wars 30th anniversary event, which celebrates the release of the original movie.

Surely, a great collector’s item, this is.

Google is at war again.

Yesterday, it slapped a lot of websites with a PageRank (PR) downgrade to send a signal that it hates paid text link ads. Now, it has been discovered that Google is also against WidgetBucks, a recently launched widget advertising program, apparently because of hidden text links.

Go to Google.com and try searching for “WidgetBucks” or “widgetbucks.com”. Chances are you won’t see its official site (www.widgetbucks.com) on the first page of the results. In fact, you won’t see it even on the next 10 pages.

Why?

Because Google has banned the site from appearing in the search results.

But why?

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If you:

• want to meet other Pinoy Money Talk (PMT) members from the Visayan region;
• are interested to learn more about finance and investments from people knowledgeable about the subject;
• are available on October 28, Sunday, from 2 to 5 p. m.; and
• can come to Baseline Restaurant, Juana Osmena St., Mango Avenue in Cebu City on that date

then why not be part of the Pinoy Money Talk (PMT) Cebu EB?

Discuss how to make money online, talk about investments or personal finance, or simply hang out with the people behind the PMT usernames. Whatever your goal is, we’ll bet our bottom dollar that the EB will be productive and fun.

Here again are the details:

PMT Cebu EB
Date: October 28, 2007
Time: 2:00 p. m. (Registration starts at 1:00 p. m.)
Venue: Baseline Restaurant, Juana Osmena St., Mango Avenue, Cebu City

For more info, visit the October 28 PMT Cebu EB thread.

Is Google evil?

At the same time Google (GOOG)’s stock price eerily struck the $666.66 level (see screenshot), webmasters and blog publishers are abuzz with the recent PageRank update, where several popular sites were apparently slapped by Google with a PR downgrade.

PageRank or PR is Google’s own algorithm that analyzes link structure to indicate the value of an individual page. A higher PR generally means that a page is more “important” relative to other pages with lower PR.

The recent PR update showed that a lot of sites, mostly popular ones, were penalized with a -2 PageRank reduction.

Read more to see a list of local and international sites that got a PR downgrade and discover for yourself what might be its cause.

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For the past week, I’ve been trying to book a flight from Manila to Singapore for next week’s long vacation (All Saint’s Day, remember?) but all airlines I contacted are already fully booked. Sigh.

The only consolation I have is that in the process, I discovered three airline slogans that sounded very similar (Gotta problem with me finding consolation in that? Har har.).

Take a look.

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