BigSite network sells PR

PR -based advertising becoming mainstream?

[Storyteller]

Just go to one of their sites and look for the little grey box down in the left column. Then it's also interesting to check PR values and backlinks on the linked sites.

The funny thing is that BigSite network is hardly on the ropes or unaware of how this PR thing works. They must be viewing it as an absolutely normal additional revenue stream. The trend is apparently catching on.

[edited by: heini at 10:18 pm (utc) on Nov. 24, 2003]
[edit reason] Removed specifics [/edit]

[snookie]

well it doesn't seem to be making much difference to their rankings...

[martinibuster]

Why is this PR based advertising? It's simply advertising. Many banner ads pass PR. No biggie. It's not like the site is advertising that they are selling PR.

Also, there was talk at the August SES that off-topic links are deprecated so it wouldn't surprise me that the link didn't pass PR.

The value here is that although not topically relevant, the links are relevant in that the audience may tend to go to trade shows.

I'd say it's good marketing, PR is inconsequential.

[edited by: heini at 10:18 pm (utc) on Nov. 24, 2003]

[Storyteller]

snookie, I noticed they don't do well in rankings, though all these pages are PR8. I suppose it's there not for long, and I'm really curious how they'd do in SERPs in a few weeks.

martinibuster, it's pretty obvious that links and anchor texts were designed to be read by Google, not by the human visitor. And they do pass PR. If you want text ads that make people click, you do something like AdSense, not weirdly sounding two-word combinations with no info at all.

[NeedScripts]

Well there are other PR 8 and PR9 sites that also sells Page Rank advertising (text advertising with extra charge cuz of PR benefits).. and I am sure google is also aware of them.. but am just waiting to see how long do they take to respond?

NS

[martinibuster]

it's pretty obvious that links and anchor texts were designed to be read by Google, not by the human visitor.

There is nothing extraordinary about the links. They don't even have a title, i.e. title="keyword phrase". They make perfect sense to the visitor because they link to relevant content.

And they do pass PR.

So what?

The important thing to note is that your title for this thread is misleading. They are not selling PR. They are selling advertising. Nowhere on their website do they offer to sell PR.

Many banners and links pass PR- but this has ALWAYS been the case and is not limited to O'Reilly.

[edited by: heini at 10:19 pm (utc) on Nov. 24, 2003]

[edited by: martinibuster at 10:54 pm (utc) on Nov. 24, 2003]

[Storyteller]

martinibuster, sure you're entitled to your own opinion and may view these links as completely normal advertising blocks. I, however, see them screaming of that they're keyword-rich links sold for their PR.

The lack of TITLE attribute is an interesting observation, but it doesn't change my impression a great deal. I know of several sites that sell PR right and left, and their links don't contain it too.

My goal when starting this thread was to hear what people think and possible see more examples of working PR-based advertising.

[martinibuster]

possible see more examples of working PR-based advertising.

Hi,
It's usually best to stay away from specifics. Discussions are generally more interesting and productive when they avoid specifics, especially on controversial topics.