I'm well aware of the affects of Allegra (AKA The Superbowl Update).. It's all a bunch of bs, and it's STILL not completed, so it's a bit early to be making claims already.. 9 of Google's datacenters haven't even finished updating yet, and from the talk on some of the SEO boards, it looks like Google is possibly reverting back to it's old algo after this new one f'd up everything.
This type of link exchange is undetectable because all it looks like is a non-reciprocated inbound link, the type that Google places more emphasis on than recips. Since backlinks are critical in obtaining high page ranking (which is even explained in depth on Google's site), they can't start discounting it now, without screwing the entire directory. If they start going theme-based, it's going to cause real problems.. But we're already ahead of the game, and with a few changes to the code we'll be able to only exchange links with people in our own category and get by Google once again.
It's amazing how this update has got everyone in a panic. My rank is all messed up on Google right now, but it's stellar on Yahoo and MSN. Google isn't even register high PR genuine links of mine right now, so I know something's not right. But I'm not going to lose sleep over it, because there's 5000+ people in the link exchange that are following this update every step of the way.
Originally posted by EternalOne:
Get ready for these links to no longer count. The latest Google update ("The Superbowl Update") has removed much of the benefit of link exchange sites, and co-op networks. Many people saw their backlinks plummet, and with it, so did SERPs and traffic.
The best way to get traffic, and high rankings has always been the same. Write good content, get RELEVANT inbound links (Google "themes" pages now, and themed links are ranked much higher), and make sure your URL's, title tags, and content contain your keywords in relevant, human-readable format (keyword lists no longer count on Google, either).
Following these simple rules, which all seem like common sense to me, I have managed to get my 3 primary websites ranked #1 across all of my targetted keywords. Some of the keywords that I target contain over 10 million results, and I've managed to maintain a #1 ranking across every single one of the latest Google updates, by not relying on BS "black-hat" tactics, which do no good for the Internet in general.
E1
