Much like an older brother beating up their younger brother, Google has just given a PageRank penalty to Google Japan!
This bizarre state of affairs came about after it was revealed that Google Japan was paying bloggers via CyberBuzz, to write about a new feature on the Google Japan website. This was in clear violation of Google’s search guidelines and Google had no option but to penalise the Google Japan website, downgrading their PageRank from a 9 to a 5!
In Japan, where Google lags behind Yahoo!, it seems that they were hoping to game their own search results and perhaps Yahoo’s search results as well. Whatever they were trying to do, it backfired massively and Google Japan was forced to issue an official apology, as did Matt Cutts on behalf of Google. As a further humiliation, Google Japan will be forced to submit a reconsideration request once they’re removed the offending posts.
There’s no word yet on whether Yahoo! has penalised Google – but I’d be surprised if they didn’t take the opportunity!
Gregor Spowart is a Director of Mass Media Design, a website design and search engine optimisation company.
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Good to see Google being fair. Embarrassing though.
Rachael,
Can’t help thinking this was done just to make a point.
Message… don’t mess with Google.