Syndicate Your Content For Search Engine Domination Has PageRank Become as “Important” as Alexa Rankings?
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This is Jerry West, guest blogging again from the SEO Revolution. Let’s talk about the recent PageRank update which started last Thursday and has the SEO/Webmaster community freaking out as usual. Fine. I know you have “Green Bar Addiction” but can’t seem to attend the weekly meeting to rid yourself of the control it has over you.
At least allow me to settle your nerves.
There’s a few SEOs out there who look at testing data from real websites and I’m one of them. First, let me clear up some possible misconceptions of the PageRank update.
1) Google only updates the PageRank number on their toolbar for the public to see about four times a year.
2) When the Toolbar PageRank is updated, it is based on old data, often 10-45 days old from when the update hits. Look at it as your would a stock quote online. You see the “Stock Quote Delayed 20 Minutes” message … and it is the same with PageRank. You don’t see the actual value as that would give you an unfair advantage and Google doesn’t want that, so they “delay” as well, but it is “days or weeks” instead of “minutes”.
3) Google continually calculates PageRank and ranks sites based on their complex algorithm. However, these PageRank numbers are for Google’s eyes only. We never see them (see above).
4) Google often downgrades the visible PageRank for sites who typically sell PageRank (link brokers and their partners). However, the actual PageRank is not effected. So traffic levels stay the same and rankings, but revenue from selling links obviously takes a hit.
So what do we learn from the above? Well, we know the PageRank data when it updates is old and it is often inaccurate.
So with this recent update, I was quite shocked. Of the nearly 600 domains I track, one-third of them had a PageRank 3 or better. This is how they fared in the update:
Before: PR 5.4
After: PR 3.1
That’s a 40% drop. Ouch. And what is even more concerning is the level in which drops and increases happened. Many are saying the “bar has been raised”, meaning, there are more pages, thus, Google has to shift the grades in order to account for the influx of new pages. After all, they did this last year. The problem is, Google has FEWER pages indexed today than they did last year, so reason would be that couldn’t be the issue. But I dug a little deeper…
I had quite a few sites which have 20,000+ backlinks and listed as PR5 before the update get downgraded to a PR4, yet I had a few dozen sites who went from a PR3 to a PR4 with less than 500 backlinks. Now, honestly, how is that possible? So I dug deeper…
I tracked the sites back 10 weeks and analyzed the traffic and rankings. Virtually no significant change. I also looked at the sites who experienced an increase, and again, no significant change upward in traffic or rankings.
In discussing these findings with Jason Katzenback, he said, “Looks like PageRank is about as important as Alexa ranking.” Bingo.
If PageRank was a significant factor, you would have seen changes in the sites who had their PageRank taken up a point or down a point. It’s been trackable in the past. So why not now? Either PageRank is no longer a factor or Google is getting more aggressive in penalizing sites with their Toolbar PageRank.
I’m speaking on the Organic Panel at Search Engine Strategies next month in San Jose, and you can bet I’ll be asking a lot of “why” questions to the engineers from Google.
So, to wrap this up, if your PageRank went down, but your traffic didn’t, relax. Keep marketing your business and follow trusted advice. And if you’re ready for a real big step, uninstall your Google Toolbar and ignore that “green bar” fluctuation. You might be surprised how much more you get accomplished without the “PageRank Distraction”.
Read More on the last Google PageRank Update.
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This has been the case for a long time, page rank hasn’t has any noticeable effect on traffic for ages. The only thing it is really useful for is when trading links, and even then it is pretty inaccurate.
Yes, it’s disappointing when PR goes down, but as you say if traffic stays the same there really is no problem.
Good guest post. I went from a 0 to a 4 on my first update, now my site’s down to a 3. I haven’t noticed any difference in traffic from four to three. Its hard to tell when your blog constantly grows and draws more keyword traffic from new articles.
Maybe Google will give me a PR 8 so I can really see the difference.
Jason Booms last blog post..Bringing a Blog Back to Life
I gave up worrying about page rank. I switch the domains on one blog, just after the last update and for a month forwarded the old domain which was at PR 4. This update the old domain which has something new on it dropped to PR 2, the blogs new domain has six times the traffic about 70% from organic google searches not to mention it rates the top page in a lot of popular TV show keyword searches. This domain remained at zero. Google knows it is far mroe popular with several times the backlinks to it as well, but for some reason doesn’t seem fit to give it a decent page rank.
Something else I noticed in some of the blogs I am tracking is people who removed their adsense or had it taken away also lost page rank. regardless of traffic or content. Conversely a number of blogs with lots of traffic using other ad networks didn’t go up at all but a number of crappy blogs using adsense with next to no traffic went up. Something seems fishy to me over this little insight…
Brads last blog post..C Is For
Great post Jerry… Jerry’s blog is one blog i highly respect and suggest you all subscribe to it (besides Johncow of course). Check it out at http://blog.seorevolution.com/
On my own sites as long as I keep my rankings I couldn’t give a monkeys what the little green bar is doing. I guess the only people this really affects are those selling links for PR.
I think PR joined Alexa in the usefulness stakes about 18 months ago, I just wish somebody would tell some of my clients
Great info and I am happy to say that a blog of mine is PR2.
Sherrys last blog post..First Contest at ZakShow dot com
Can’t wait to see the responses from the Google guys!
Excellent Post. Jerry West is always at the top of the SEO game.
One of my blogs went from PR2 to PR0. I have two image ads and 3 text ads. Another blog with 15 text ads kept it’s PR3 rank. So there is just no logical way to tell what is going to happen during PR updates.
I also have spoken at length with people in public relations who do blog marketing, and they don’t care about page rank. They want to know the number of unique monthly visits, period. So I’m going to try not to take the Rank Spank too personally.
Pagerank is just one more tool that google uses to rule the world. lol It doesn’t mean anything.
Interesting situation…for me, as much as overall traffic numbers, which I think come if you show up and do your work day to day, I mostly keep my focus on the conversion rates of visitors to my opt-in newsletter or my adsense or my comments plus monitoring the increase of the number of inbound links, of course. I would like more traffic (who wouldn’t, right?) but I have to keep reminding myself it’s about finding my peeps, not just finding warm bodies. I don’t want to do stuff just to do stuff–I want to reach my specific audience.
Maybe this is just the sad rationalization of a niche blogger who longs for more traffic, but it helps me keep my head on straight. Green bar addiction can never be cured, only managed. LOL!
Together, we are stronger.
Vicki Flaugher, the original SmartWoman
HEY, CowBoy! The auto link placed in my post is uber cool…how do you do that? Did I miss it in the tutorials to date? I want it to!!
Vicki
wordpress affiliate pro
Thanks! I will install that this week!
Vicki
Great info…didn’t know that PR was only updated 4x per year…if you read other blogs, you would swear Google updates weekly…at least the perception I had.
TeasasTipss last blog post..Something New Something Special
At last, we move from the obsession with incoming links to being more concerned about content quality and real, actual traffic. See, I’m even commenting here on a No Follow blog!
If Google seem to be getting less and less concerned with PR for SERPs placement - newness seems to be their overarching priority at present - then why should we bust a gut continuing to use outdated tactics.
Hey Alex, actually, PageRank has had effect on traffic in the past, the only issue was, you had to go BACK and view traffic pattern changes universally on all your domains to know when Google took the snapshot of the PageRank for the update.
Brad, there has been speculation that AdSense has been a reason for rise and fall of traffic and even as you pointed out, PageRank. However, it is another reason, as according to my data, removal or adding AdSense blocks is not the cause.
Yeah, that is one of the biggest issues with PageRank right now … the CLIENT wants it to go up and the use the green bar as a “pulse” of their site’s health. To them it doesn’t matter that you have increased sales 32% over last year, the little green bar went down and now their business sucks and it is your fault. That’s why I don’t take clients anymore.
Elizabeth, great point … too bad the majority can’t see the same thing. It is much the same with doing keyword research too. All too often clients want the “high searched” keyword phrase which doesn’t convert instead of focusing on what really works and drives revenue.
Umm, Alexa rank is important. At least PageRank can be measured in some way. I have a blog that is about to hit lower than 80,000 in Alexa. I have done no gaming.
But thanks for pointing out that as new sites come in, all else being equal, your PageRank will naturally decrease because they have to fit all sites between 0-10. I have argued with others about this.
Stephan Millers last blog post..Single Tasking is Hard To Do
What in the world does having to give you a score from 0 to 10 have to do with your score dropping?
Personally I think Alexa is a complete joke now. I average 4000 uniques a day… up from 1500 to 2000 from three months ago and it shows the stats still going down. Alexa is based on people using the alexa toolbar and if you look and compare non alexa owned (amazon) sites versus non alexa owned it is an exact opposite trend. Theirs is going up and everyone elses down. Check out copyblogger.com, problogger.net and more… they all are going down and then look at paypal… as soon as those started dropping you see an immediate increase in paypals.
I feel much better now. My traffic has tripled the last 2 months from 450 uniques per day to over 1400 per day and I even hit 10K and 8K in a day the last 2 weeks. My PR went from PR3 to PR2 with more than 800 backlinks. I was surprised and was hoping for that PR4.
Google doesn’t control my popularity I do.
my site went from pr0 to pr5 in 3 months.. as for alexa, they have changed it already. it does not only measure users who are using their toolbar they have added other factors as well but i doubt its also accurate. anyway, that was a great read.
hey cow! there’s an error in your footer, pls check (home/johncow/public_html/wp-includes/wp-db.php on line 500).
ChiQ Montess last blog post..“Font Conference” Video
I think you’re right about PR being not that useful of measure of a site’s performance. I think it’s funny how you compare it to Alexa. I’ve had to have this conversation about how “an Alexa ranking don’t mean Sh–” with clients before. No person looking to buy an iPod or dvd or blue widget or whatever bases their decision on visiting Alexa first.
Duh Onlys last blog post..My Kid Could Paint That - Modern Art, The Media and Unanswered Questions
Very good information. I noticed a dip on one of my websites and was wondering what happened.
What’s the use of PR for mr.G anyway? If it’s useless and cause a pain in the ass for mr. G with links trading, then why mr.G keeps it?
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Fantastic article. I personally don’t hold much value for the toolbar pagerank but it’s nice to see that little green bar go up. Unfortunately, this update was more of a downgrade for the majority of webmasters. It seems most hard hit were people with PR4 sites. I noticed the majority of people saying their PR went down, went down from a PR4 to whatever. I also heard somebody say that maybe Google is doing this little dog and pony show because next update they will be more generous (as they were with the Q2 update) to keep people happy.
Dave (The Other One)s last blog post..Recession Proof Niche Affiliate Marketing
Google PR will drive you crazy. Do the right things and traffic and PR will follow.
I recently subscribed to your blog, and I am currently reading through your free download cowbook.pdf.
WOW
I am addicted. What a great ebook. Full of practical tips and tricks on monetizing blogs.
Keep up the great work. Loving your blog.
Regards
SolReka
Brighter Energy Solutions
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Interesting, and I’d love to hear more about your Q & A with the Google engineers.
Thanks Jerry,
JR
6 Step Checklist for On-Site SEOs last blog post..1 Niche, 2 Niche, 3 Niche, 4…How Many Niche Sites is Too Many?
Google has said that sometimes your toolbar PR goes down simply because there’s only so much PR that can be passed around in a given niche. When you’re building links, you should look at the toolbar PR of the page you want a link on only after you’ve considered more important factors, like the age of the domain, the quality of it’s backlinks etc.
Some people believe the main reason that toolbar PR was created was to keep people trapped in a rat race while Google collects info on all the sites you are visiting.
@Will - You’re exactly right about Google limiting the PR passed around in certain niches. I remember last year that Matt Cutts said the SEO niche was being devalued. I’m almost certain this time the “Make Money Online” and “Affiliate Marketing” niches were affected.
Dave (The Other One)s last blog post..Recession Proof Niche Affiliate Marketing
PR Shme Are, another great Google innovation to maintain a class structure based on the Good (7-10PR) and the ugly (1-5PR). PR is important for search results as in your site will get listed higher in Google SR (Search Results) with a big banging PR. All the other search engines couldn’t give a twig’s bark about PR. One basic thing PR does is place a value (although bias) for link back marketers to expect payment for linking to their high PR sites. If PR was Christmas I’d be the Scrooge McDuck character and stand in the cyber street yelling Bah Humbug to the people.
Clients sees PR as the site’s reputation but in SEO’s perspective, it is not that necessary
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I dont concern myself too much with Pagerank and Alexa. In fact, I dont give a shit about either, however advertisers do. And in this world of trying to make money blogging, a PR of 0 is going to attract no advertisers compared to a PR of 5. Advertisers also consider Alexa too.
Dude World Orders last blog post..The Dark Knight
I don’t really care about PageRank, however, I don’t mind increasing it either
Rajaie AlKoranis last blog post..The Giant Subscription Experiment = Fail
Great article. I really don’t look at pagerank anymore. Don’t think it matters that much. traffic is what it is all about. So, don’t waste too much time on that. Create content and work on getting those listings.
indeed.no one wants to advertise on a site that have PR 0 unless its free
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for me pagerank is really worth like alexa
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Jerry,
This is a fine post.
30% of my websites are also experiencing a drop in PageRank. Not a big deal, though, as long as my Alexa numbers keep smaller and smaller, and my SEOMoz’ Trifecta keep showing increases.
Cheers!
Your opinion goes the same with me….
Google PR or Alexa TR are not important, just focus on our readers… - Readers doesn’t care about PR or TR, all their care is content, that’s is the answer.
shawals last blog post..Yaro Starak Blog Mastermind Is Open - Get Early Bird Bonuses
If I were you I wouldn’t worry too much about page rank. Google is not everything. Just worry about writing good content for your blog and interact with people in social networks and then everything else will come to you.
Ultimate Blogging Experiments last blog post..Don’t Scare off Your Blog traffic by Your Page Loading Slowly
People that say PageRank is nothing always bug me… It IS something. Most advertisers look at a sites PR before anything else.
People that say PR is nothing usually have a bad one and are just ticked off.
Ralphs last blog post..Sega Genesis - The Good Ol’ Days
This is a great article!
I have a PR4 blog and my Alexa is at 132K. When my Alexa goes below 100K I am going to start taking on some advertising but don’t want to lose my PR. Any suggestions?
Are there any other metrics other than Google PR, Compete and Alexa that I can use to assure advertisers of the value of my blog? That’s really the only thing Alexa is good for anyway, assuring potential advertisers.
DeadRoosters last blog post..How to get in the Mood to Write
Lots of funny comments on Page Rank. Gosh I took BOTH toolbars off my browser…BOTH Alexa and Google as I found them too distracting.
Great article Jerry. I would “love” to be a fly on the wall when you stat asking your “Why” questions. I bet most don’t get answered (or is that heard…herd as in Cow?)
hi,
I think i can never understand google pagerank. My site’s rank dropped from 2 to 1, i can’t understand why ? traffic to site increases,backlinks increases but pagerank dropped. I checked some other sites(rival sites) and some of them get higher pagerank apart from the fact that they have less traffic and backlinks.
I can only say, that good pagerank can get you good advertising offers and good google search engine positions.
I think page rank can be big factor for google to rank website in the case of the same number of quality backlink received from 2 websites. If that happen, i believe google will use the page rank to rank.
SEO Challenges last blog post..Busby SEO Challenge- Basic SEO
at the end of the day, all that matters is quality traffic from search engines, and I am not too sure that PageRank that we see really has anything at all to do with it.
Sell Porn Make Moneys last blog post..Friday Freebie - Free Porn Video - Take 2
I agree with you for some extent john, and in my point of view i regard, Yes ! Google page rank is more important than Alexa, coz the main traffic generated for a new blog or any it would be from Search engines mainly from google to say, coz i had a blog and new, and got some amount of traffic and after a couple a months of SEO i got a PR of 3 and tripled by traffic to my blog.
And its not that i dont agree with John, but in the case of SEO PR does matter