PENALIZED: Google Messes With Blogging Fingers PageRank
By Matt Jones on Oct 28, 2007 in Blogging Links
Everywhere you look people are blogging about PageRank and I want to update you on the situation with Blogging Fingers.
I am 100% certain that the Blogging Fingers Homepage has been penalized by Google because it has received (so far) a measly PR3, when all the signs looked like it was heading for a PR5.
Why It Doesn’t Add Up And Why I Must Be Being Penalized
Take a look at the screenshot below. It is using iWebTool to show the PR of some of the internal pages on Blogging Fingers visually.

You can see that number of posts actually have been given a higher PR than the Homepage! Lots of other posts actually have the same PR as the Homepage with is clearly a load of shit evidence of slappage.
I am of the belief that I am somehow being penalized for selling sidebar text links and banner advertisements without using “nofollow”, which if you are listening Google I have now added.
In Google Webmaster tools it says the Blogging Fingers Homepage has roughly 5000 links from other sites but the pages awarded PR4 have a mere 100-200 which definitely shows up some fishy goings on.
What I don’t understand is that the ads that I thought caused the penalization were sitewide and so should have caused all the pages to have a lower PR.
As well as this my tiny niche blog about cheap airsoft guns has been mockingly awarded the same PR as Blogging Fingers. Naturally I am pleasantly surprised that my airsoft site has a PR that high, but it is insulting when I have spent 100s of hours more working on Blogging Fingers.
Who knows if Google with take the time to restore my deserved PR or if Blogging Fingers will be left in limbo.
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everyone has been talkin about it andy beard has been good at watching it - while I have just created a report on it!
I too have posted I think 2 post on the decrease page ranks
It’s sad to see your blog didn’t get a PR5. I was myself shocked that you got a PR3 when I saw your PR…
To the best of my knowledge, the first bout of penalization is done for the homepage. And if the owner doesn’t comply, a further decrease in PR which is an overall reduction.
Of course, there’s no proof as such - its an observation I’ve made for a certain website. (not mine)
The blogroll *could* mean trouble too - I can’t be sure, but no harm in nofollowing it.
I know Copyblogger got away with it, but he was rather vocal about it. Its certainly a personal choice - just my 2c!
[…] lot of bloggers are upset about the Google PankRank update designed to penalize bloggers who sell links. The […]
Hey Matt,
Don’t worry, I got slapped too.
But why would we care about pagerank if we are selling links for traffic and with nofollows in them?
It doesn’t look good for credibility…
Well if we build a better blog and plaster the advertisers with our BIG readership base, that’ll beat the pagerank.
So like what Darren said, “Forget about pagerank and build a better blog.”
Join the “I Got Slapped” club.
Mine has stayed at 4 so far
mine predicted a PR of 4 ended up 2
Mine has stayed on PR4 till now. No increase or decrease, lets see what happens.