1. >> Google checkmates PayPerPost

Would that title be "Google checkmates Text-Link-Ads.com"?

Posted at 12:58PM on Apr 15th 2007 by G

2. Jason,

You need to read this http://www.wolf-howl.com/google/how-can-so-many-phds-be-so-wrong/ and the comments, especially the one by "Cygnus"

Let me quote Cygnus here for those who won't click the link:
"If I buy a billboard ad to sell a hamburger when a person is entering a town, that is relevant.

If I buy a radio spot with a sizzling burger in the background, it is relevant.

If I buy a television ad to show the burger’s juiciness, it is relevant.

If I buy a link with the phrase “hamburgers” for a vote that my site means hamburgers, it is relevant."

Posted at 1:30PM on Apr 15th 2007 by Pranav Chavda

3. Jason I do not understand why you are so against SEO, and your ingorance towards the subject does not seem in keeping with your opinions on other things. Lets be clear about this, obvious paid links are not the only part of SEO. All this means is that more sophisticated SEOs will gain an upper hand over their competitors.

How come people make money through publishing shit (literally pages which dont make sense to anyone)and placing contextual advertising on the page? They are providing zero value to anyone but still make money from it. THat is what is the driving force. Explain that.

Also, your silicon valley bubble fails to allow you to understand that some businesses have to advertise, and do not always have a unique product. Lets compare Furntiture store A and Furniture Store B that both sell the same products at the same rates. The one with more targetted search traffic will not only get their website seen by more consumers, they will also have higher revenues as a result.

I do agree SEO is pointless for a company like facebook for example, but open your eyes Jason. I read SEOs take the piss out of you all the time and generally think that they are unfair and following the crowd, but why not show at least some appreciation for what they do. You are an inspiration to entrepreneurs everywhere, why not recognize that a USP is not always the answer to success and stop people from spending their whole life waiting on that "great idea".

Posted at 2:24PM on Apr 15th 2007 by Craig

4. Meanwhile, Weblogs Inc. still sells spammy links and Netscape.com still ranks #1 in Google for lolita preteen.

Posted at 2:35PM on Apr 15th 2007 by aaron wall

5. Jason,

I think your prejudices against PPP and SEO have combined into a non-sensical post. While I know that PPP methods can be used to improve pagerank / SERPs, it is by no means the only methods that SEOs use.

If that's the case, then what kind of leap in logic are you making linking Google's crackdown on PPP as something that will cause 90% of SEO to end? (whatever that means)

No, seriously. I'm interested in hearing you explaining this.

Cheers
t @ dji

Posted at 2:53PM on Apr 15th 2007 by Tony

6. Jason
I think you need to look past your obsession with PPP and actually take a serious look at what Cutts' is talking about here: he's not talking PayPerPost as such (although in the broader sense PPP is included), he's talking Text Link Ads, the VERY SAME sorts of ads you used to make revenue in the RH sidebar across the Weblogs Inc network...indeed, outside of Adsense and the occasional spot ad these were your own bread and butter...and please don't argue that the meso ads running down the RHS of Weblogs Inc were relevant, they were there for SEO mostly, although as you and I both know that Text Link style ads do also result in click thrus and traffic as well. Are you now suggesting that Weblogs Inc stops this practice? Whether we like it or not, text link style ads (not talking PPP, traditional style) have really become a major part of the business, and any attempts to abolish them will affect a lot of people, not just a couple of SEO's...indeed, it's usually the SEO's spending the money, not receiving it :-)

Posted at 9:35PM on Apr 15th 2007 by Duncan

7. This announcement should not come as a surprise to anyone .. it's the inevitable evolution of the battle between SEOs and SEs .. however expect some churning and the also inevitable collatoral damage

Posted at 7:05AM on Apr 16th 2007 by Booker

8. I have submitted my own paid reviews to Google as webspam, and asked for a specific response.

I doubt whether they will give me one

Don't forget to stick nofollow on those links to ThisNext

Posted at 12:34PM on Apr 17th 2007 by Andy Beard

9. Hardly a Checkmate. Here's what Matt says in response to critics:

"...right now I’m just looking to increase the size of the dataset that we’re running some tests on."

Seems more like Analysis.

Posted at 12:18PM on Apr 18th 2007 by BSN

10. I think this is a good decision, I saw a lot of "your-post-on-2000-blogs" offers at the DP forums - and 99% of these posts are only spam.

Posted at 3:44PM on Jul 4th 2007 by Manuel