Last night, Google update their Webmaster Guidelines to remove a single line that reads:

In fact, I was able to pull up the old version of the page in the Google cache.

As you can imagine, this has set an early spark of flames through the SEO/SEM community. We have very early discussions on this topic at Google Groups, Sphinn (thanks Beu) and Search Engine Watch Forums.

In the Google Groups thread, Google’s JohnMu explains why Google removed that line. Let me quote John:

Honestly, John’s remark scares me. I have seen this before – or similar statements. In my opinion, this will lead to Google taking stands against many more directories – more than they have ever done in the past. How do I know? I don’t, but as Google Blogoscoped reported last night, Google dropped their own link to their own directory. We know Google has gone after directories in the past. Will they ever go after ODP (dmoz) or Yahoo? I am not sure, but will they go after some other popular ones? Maybe.

To be fair, John does ask for feedback:

Where will this lead? That is my concern. Should I be concerned?

Forum discussion at Google Groups, Sphinn and Search Engine Watch Forums.