The latest page rank update of Google left Blogging Mix with a BIG FAT ZERO PR. Certainly, doing sponsored reviews and selling my page rank were the main reasons behind Google’s action. From a page rank of 4, Google warned me by down grading my page rank to 3. But I ignored Google so eventually they resorted to taking my page rank away. I tried convincing myself that Page Rank is irrelevant but after experiencing the effects of losing it, I’m now more than convinced that Page Rank is important.

google page rank, page rank, blog page rank

Here are the consequences of losing my Google Page Rank:

  • Daily traffic received from Google was affected. Although the decline was minimal, it is still traffic lost.
  • Search Engine Rankings on keywords and keyphrases I use to rank high went down. This resulted to a lesser traffic from Google.
  • Offers to do sponsored post also went down. This affected my blog income for the month of February and March.
  • Some advertisers declined from earlier engagement to advertise on my blog.
  • There’s also the psychological impact. The fact that I lost my page rank makes me feel less confident of my blog. Losing my page rank made me feel less credible as a blogger as well.

What I did to get back my Google Page Rank?

After realizing that Google Page Rank still plays a crucial role in blog traffic and blog monetization, I decided to do something to get my Page Rank back. While other bloggers reported that they got their page rank after applying for reconsideration and waiting for 2 months or more, I got back my page rank in less than 1 week. Here’s a list of what I did.

1. I made all the links to my advertisers “NOFOLLOW”.

A ‘DOFOLLOW’ link to your advertisers is a violation of Google’s quality guidelines for webmasters. If you haven’t implemented a ‘NOFOLLOW’  to links to your advertisers, that should be the first thing you should be doing now. Several bloggers reported losing their PR just because they forgot to add a ‘NOFOLLOW’ attribute to their advertisers.

To add a ‘NOFOLLOW’ attribute to the links to your advertisers, all you need is to add rel=”nofollow”. Here’s how you can add the ”NOFOLLOW” attribute to text-link-ad and banner advertisement respectively.

<a rel=”nofollow” href=”http://www.text-link-ads.com/”>ANCHOR TEXT</a>

<a rel=”nofollow” href=”http://www.text-link-ads.com/”><img src=”http://www.bloggingmix.image.jpg”/></a>

Refer to these posts for a more detailed instruction on implementing a ‘NOFOLLOW’ attribute.

2. I implemented a “NOFOLLOW” to all the links in my previous Sponsored Posts. This will apply to any paid reviews I will do in the future.

If you are using Mozilla Firefox with Search Status Plugin installed, you will notice that links to paid sponsored posts were made “NOFOLLOW”. Sponsored Post is not against Google’s quality guidelines provided links are made NoFollow. You can use the same instruction as provided in number 1 if you want to make links to your sponsors nofollow.

3. I applied for RECONSIDERATION.

After all links to advertisers were made NOFOLLOW, I submitted my blog for reconsideration. Here’s step-by-step process to submit your blog for reconsideration.

  • Firstly, you need to create an account with Google. If you have a Gmail account, that will do. The same log-in information can be used to access Google Webmaster. If you don’t have a Gmail account, now is the best time to make one.
  • Log-in to Google Webmaster using your Gmail Account.
  • Once inside your Google webmaster account, you need submit your website if you have not added any. You can also submit your sitemap if you want to take full advantage of Google Webmasters.
  • Inside your Google Webmaster account, you will find a link to request for reconsideration at the right side of your screen. Click on it.

    • google form, request for reconsideration form, links

  • You will be directed to a page where you will be prompted to choose a site that you want to submit for reconsideration.

    • submit for reconsideration

  • Click on the drop button to choose the site you want to submit for reconsideration. Tick on the box to acknowledge that you read and understood Google’s quality guidelines, that the site you’re submitting for reconsideration does not violate Google’s quality guidelines and that you agree to abide by Google’s quality guidelines in the future.
  • Just below the reconsideration statement is a form where you can give Google more information about what actions might have led to your penalties, and what corrective actions have you taken.

    • reconsideration form, submission form

  •  Click on request for reconsideration button to finalize your submission. Now you have to wait and don’t irritate Google by submitting another request for reconsideration.

Tips When Writing Your Message To The Google Review Team

  1. The Google review team receives thousands of request for reconsideration everyday so don’t make a lengthy letter. Make your points brief and concise.
  2. Briefly tell Google what might have caused your blog to be penalized, and more importantly, tell Google what were the corrective actions you have done.
  3. Include URLs or categories of your sponsored posts to make the Review Team’s work easier and faster.

I got my Google Page Rank back so if you do the same thing I did, you should be getting your PR back anytime soon.

Thank you for your time and I hope you found this post useful. :D

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