Paid Blogging and Google - What You Don't Know Could Kill Your Blog

In the beginning paid blogging seemed too good to be true, and well... you know where that usually leads those of us desperate for home-based income. For thousands of stay-at-home moms, the prospect of earning $20-$100 a day was not only a tempting reason to start a blog... or two... or twenty, but for many of us became our work-from-home dream come true.

Paid blogging seemed innocent enough in the beginning, and the gratification and excitement that came with finding legitimate work-from-home income with unheard of perks including... no boss, no monetary investment, no schedule, and not an ounce of required experience made this money making venture spread like wildfire.

Registering with a handful of companies that make their business matching bloggers with advertisers, thousands of us hunted daily for new opportunities, hoping to catch a great offer before someone else snatched it up. I always felt like a fisherman sitting on the edge of a boat... just waiting for a bite. The biggest fish I ever caught was good for a whopping $50 for a mere 100 words and 2 links.

Yes, it was awesome. Yes, it was legitimate, and yes unfortunately it did end up costing me something.

Before the fatal blow, bloggers like myself were on a role... taking opportunities left and right, diligently posting about everything from pain killers to lawnmowers, trying to make a better life for our families... then, it happened. On a day that started like any other, we all realized something had changed, something unexpected and devastating.

There had been the occasional rumor that Google didn't exactly approve of paid blogging, but it wasn't until just a few weeks ago that so many of us realized just how much. Thousands of us lost precious page rank, for which we'd worked months to achieve. Additionally, I've found that my blogs, those I'd engaged in paid blogging have been halted in another aspect, that being with Google's indexing system. While you'll still find my blogs indexed with Google, you'll not find my newer posts indexed at all. Ok, I got the message loud and clear. So, I can now write to my hearts content, but my potential to increase readership has been handed a crippling blow.

Without page rank, a blog is ultimately of no worth to an advertiser. The higher your page rank, the more your link is worth. When Google takes away the page rank of a blogger, it's like trying to walk without legs.

So, what's the problem? Google considers paid blogging as link selling, which can manipulate search engine results. I can appreciate that now that I understand it, but being a novice at best, paid blogging always seemed very innocent to me. I never accepted an offer for any product or service that I had issues with. I never claimed to have tried a product or service when I hadn't, and I never misrepresented myself. In my innocent way of looking at the world of advertising I saw paid blogging no differently than a television commercial, a magazine advertisement, or a radio plug. All advertising is created equal, is it not? Apparently the short answer to that question is no.

Linking to other websites is and of itself not a problem. Google's fury comes with selling links that pass page rank. The problem simply stated is that advertisers are paying bloggers with rank to link to their websites in an effort to boost their standing in search engines. The higher ranking your blog... the more your link will benefit the paying website... thus creating the problem with Google, since the benefit to the paying webmaster is not occurring naturally, but is being bought, you can see Google's concern with the maintaining the integrity of their system. Once it's explained, it does make some amount of sense. Still hurts, but it makes sense.

If you're a blogger and have just recently discovered sites like ReviewMe, Blogsvertise and PayPerPost, yes they are completely legitimate. I've made well over $3,000 through paid blogging and I can assure you it's not a scam, it's not a game, there are no hoops to jump through... you do get paid, but in the process you may lose your credibility with other bloggers and if Google discovers you've been engaging in link selling, you'll likely be penalized. In that respect, paid blogging is a gamble and one you'll likely lose.