More Pinoy sites lose PageRank as Google updates… again
November 8, 2007
Boy, and we thought the Google PageRank (PR) update was over.
I’ve gone bloghopping today and noticed through my Google Toolbar that some of the sites I frequent have dropped PR. Nope, this was not the same PageRank update in late October that saw a lot of sites got penalized. When I checked the PR of those sites in October 30, it showed a different (read: higher) PR. Now, the latest update has got the following Philippine sites affected.
New list of Philippine sites with reduced PageRank (checked November 8)
| Website | Original PR | PR as of Oct. 25 | PR as of Nov. 8 |
|---|---|---|---|
| pinoytravelblog.com | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| seophilippines.org | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| rickey.org | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| jrocas.com.ph | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| jepoyeng.blogspot.com | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| macalua.com | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| quezon.ph | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| jaypeeonline.net | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| man-blog.com | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| pinoytechblog.com | 5 | 4 | 3 |
| pinoycook.net | 4 | 4 | 3 |
Original list of Philippine sites that got penalized (updated November 8)
| Website | Original PR | PR as of Oct. 25 | PR as of Nov. 8 |
|---|---|---|---|
| inquirer.net | 6 | 4 | 6 |
| manilatimes.net | 6 | 4 | 4 |
| philstar.com | 6 | 4 | 5 |
| yugatech.com | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| jozzua.com | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| aboutmyrecovery.com | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| retzwerx.com | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| pinoymoneytalk.com | 4 | 2 | 3 |
FrancSwiss promoter murdered?
November 8, 2007
In the discussion thread This is sad… maybe FrancSwiss-related, PMT member pinoynetworker posted that currently making the rounds in the local networking scene is the news that a certain Christopher or Cris Irabon has been identified as one of the victims in a salvage incident early this week.
Irabon is said to be a “power leader” in the Philippine networking scene who allegedly actively promoted the FrancSwiss investment program that eventually turned into a scam.
Local daily People’s Journal has the official news on the killings.
THE four salvage victims stuffed in a sack found atop a bridge in Taytay, Rizal Monday (October 5) have been identified by their relatives, police said yesterday.
The victims were identified as Maricel Sena, 24, five months pregnant, her sister Robilyn, 19, Christopher Irabon, 33, and Rolando Lopez, 35, live-in partner of Maricel.
Estrelita Sena, mother of the siblings, said they last saw the victims alive on October 31.
Police said the victims were tortured before they were killed.
Were the murders motivated by the FrancSwiss scam? That is a question for the police to answer.
In any case, we offer our condolences to the families of the victims.
Related reading:
- Discussion thread - This is sad… maybe FrancSwiss-related
- Discussion thread - HYIP: FrancSwiss
- Article - Is FrancSwiss a scam?
- Scam Programs Discussion Board
- List of Popular Scam Programs
PageRank penalty was Google’s warning vs. paid links
October 30, 2007
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.
