In it's last Page Rank update it has been heard and seen that Google has penalized by decreasing the page rank of many websites.

Is it still worth to buy an expensive listing in Yahoo Directory? Traffic benefits could be one considerable point but what about page rank? I don't panic on page rank but I would definitely like to know about the status.

Google decreased the PR of people who buy and sell links just for the sake of PageRank. Real links, such as those built into content, or the kind that drive traffic, still give link love.

A listing in the Yahoo! directory isn't going to be seen by Google as buying the link just for PR's sake - it's a well-known, clean directory that delivers real traffic. Heck, even my measly directory is still loved by Google, and I'm willing to bet it's because I promote the fact that it generates targeted traffic throughout my site (which it does, of course).

Moral of the story = Don't buy links just for the PR or you'll end up getting hit hard in the end. If the amount of traffic that the directory (and directory scrapers) are going to send you is worth the cost, then go for it. Consider the link love a great bonus but don't make it the deal breaker one way or another.

Google decreased the PR of people who buy and sell links just for the sake of PageRankHow do you know that? All they did was decreased what was displayed in the tool bar. How do you know that they did actually decrease the real internal PR? Real links, such as those built into content, or the kind that drive traffic, still give link love.How do you know that? Do you not think that they might have done something about all the links in the content in article directories?Moral of the story = Don't buy links just for the PR or you'll end up getting hit hard in the end.Rubbish! You do not get penalized for buying links for PR - you might not get any benefit from them; the site you buy them off might get penalized ... but how will the site doing the buying end up "getting hit hard"? If the site doing the buying gets penalized them I am off to buy wikipedia and my competitors a whole lot of links...

> How do you know that?
Because it happened to me. I went from about eight PR7s to a PR4. When I added "nofollow" to my advertiser's links, and emailed Google that I made the change, I went back up to a PR6 within 2 days. I am since back to two PR7s (both are main interior pages).

> All they did was decreased what was displayed in the tool bar.
You're right. From my experience, my toolbar PR decreased but traffic from Google SERPS remained consistant. However, it makes sense that they did this as a warning of sorts. While only Google knows for sure, I have no doubt that they have followed through with internal penalties to those who ignored their toolbar decrease.

> How do you know that they did actually decrease the real internal PR?
Typically when I talk about "PR" I am referring to the Google PR Toolbar and when I talk about "PageRank" I am talking about Google's internal scale that affects rankings. It's less confusing that way.

> Do you not think that they might have done something about all the links in the content in article directories?
I don't know what an article directory is. However, I believe that most of the sites that took the biggest hit during the "PR Massacre" were reviewed by a human who decided whether or not they were legit advertisers or search spam advertisers.

> You do not get penalized for buying links for PR
It has been confirmed on Google's Blog (I don't have the link to the article offhand and I'm too lazy to search for it) that you will be negatively affected if lots of "bad neighborhoods" link to you. I'm not sure how much of a role it plays in the algorithm, however, and I doubt that a link that used to help you is now going to hurt you.

> Moral of the story = Don't buy links just for the PR or you'll end up getting hit hard in the end.
Your response to that was "Rubbish!" and in the next sentence you said that "you might not get any benefit from them." Well, if you are spending a lot of money on something that isn't doing anything at all for you, I consider that taking a hit.

cscgal, is this the quote you are looking for:

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2007/12/information-about-buying-and-selling.html

It's not the specific article I had in mind but it is certainly just as good. In Matt Cutts' own words, both buying and selling links that pass PageRank is a violation of Google's guidelines, and will be negatively affected. Thanks!