Freebies and Product Samples

This is one another buzz in the blogosphere as well as in the SEO community, the Page Rank update by Google that had happen this month of November. Google dropped visible the PR of many blogs and mainstream news sites presumably as a penalty for selling links.

Should Google penalize sites/blogs that sell links?

Nobody really knows, except for certain why Google dropped PR for these sites, but it certainly looks like an extension of last PR update. This time, Google targeted some well-known sites and blogs in the world of marketing research and mainstream news too.

1. Google is Justified
This should come as no surprise, after all, Google warned us. Paid links also affect the quality of its search results ... Google has every right to take measures to protect the integrity of its Search Engine Results Page (SERPs). Lowering the PR of those websites who sell links, levels the playing field for all those who don't sell. It is their search engine, and they can do what they want in order to keep it up and even improvement it.

2. Google is out of Control.
Google also sells links and should not penalize the others for selling them too. Why should Google be able to tell me how to connect and whom to link to? How does their algorithm know that I received payment for a link? Google is simply out to crush the competition.

3. Denial And Deflection
This is only part of a set of page rank adjustment. Nobody should pay attention to PR anyway, it has nothing to do with the value of your content.

Is Google justified by the lowering of the page rank of the sites that sell links because it messes with their search results? Or is Google just out of control and simply protecting its turf as some have suggested?