This might not apply, but I thought it would be good to post this article for some explanation.
http://www.sitepronews.com/archives/2007/nov/21prt.html
The Big Google PageRank Slap - Perception Is Everything
By Titus Hoskins (c) 2007
Recently Google did a major PageRank update where a lot of sites
were downgraded. Many experts believe this PageRank update was
Google's response to link selling - sites which sell links lost
points in their PageRank.
Google measures all web pages on a scale of importance from 0 to
10, which is shown in a small green pixel bar on browsers
carrying the Google Toolbar. PageRank is "supposedly" measured
by the number of backlinks to your site.
Online democracy in action, a link is a vote for your site. The
more votes you have the higher your site is ranked. At least
that's how it was supposed to work until a lot of high PR sites
started selling links and put a monkey wrench into the whole
system.
The latest update may be a smart move on Google's part to
curtail this practice; who's going to buy a link from a PR2 or
even a PR4 site? Besides this could be more than a warning that
your site will go down even further if you continue to sell
links.
Now this is more of a cosmetic change in PageRank than a real
change in your true rankings in Google. Just because your PR
goes down doesn't mean your keyword rankings or traffic from
Google also goes down.
I saw some of my sites go up, some stayed the same, but my major
site took a big hit - falling from PR6 to PR4. This was more of
a devastating blow than I expected mainly for psychological
reasons than actual consequences. After years of building the
best content you can muster and constantly getting quality
one-way links, to see that PageRank drop was very disappointing
and hits to the core of your online work.
I have been around for a while so I have experienced many Google
Updates - anyone remember the Florida Update? I also keep my
ears peeled to discussions of the latest updates in
Webmasterworld and Stompernet, and I even read Matt Cutts when I
get real nervous... so I knew not to panic just because of the
sudden drop in PageRank.
I also knew what most of the SEO experts were saying was true
because my major keywords stayed the same and my Google traffic
actually went up. But that's little comfort when you're talking
about Google; you immediately go into overdrive and try to
figure out where you went wrong. What caused the drop - because
whether PageRank is meaningless or not, you're still going in
the wrong direction.
I saw many of my competitors drop too, but many stayed the same
and a few even increased in PageRank. What are they doing right;
what am I doing wrong? I don't sell links but does Google think
I am selling links was my main concern? I even moved one
external link from my main page to another part of my site, just
in case Google is mistaking that as a paid link.
Welcome To Webmaster's Paranoid Hell!
For SEO reasons I have very few external links on my main page.
Can't see why Google downgraded my main site. I have been at PR6
for years.
Herein lies my main beef - with Google you never really know
where you stand; you are constantly walking on eggshells. No
matter how good your content or your site is - one misstep and
you could be in the doghouse. All your hard work can be taken
away in a heartbeat.
It wouldn't matter so much if it was one of the other two major
search engines downgrading your site but this is Google.
Free organic traffic from Google is vital to any online site or
business. I would take traffic from Google over any other source
of traffic on the web, except for traffic coming from my
articles on other sites, and even that traffic probably
originated from a search in Google.
Google and Google PageRank have always been important to me -
that's one of the reasons a sudden large drop causes so much
concern. There's another important reason Google PageRank is
important to me.
Most SEO experts mistakenly believe PageRank is meaningless
because Google is not giving us the true ranking of any site or
revealing all the backlinks, which is supposedly one of the
major factors in how Google ranks sites. While this fact is
obviously true, it has caused many to jump to another
conclusion.
Because Google is not giving us the real ranking, many
webmasters have dismissed PageRank as a vital element in their
sites. Don't make the same mistake.
Google PageRank is extremely important if you're doing business
on the web. The higher PR you have, the better. But it has
nothing to do with keyword rankings or first page SERPs.
What many SEO experts fail to realize (not really their
business) is the whole "perceived" value of PageRank.
Google, hate it or love it, has become the most respected
company on the web in the eyes of the majority of the web's
users. It carries enormous weight and prestige. The "perceived"
value of a high PR7 or PR8 is extremely valuable.
We are not talking about link selling; we are talking about how
a perspective business partner or customer will treat your site
or business.
Say you have two identical sites you want to do business with
online and you discover one is a Google PR2 site and the other
is a Google PR8 site - which one would you choose to do business
with? Honestly?
From first-hand experience, I know any online company or
marketer will get more business offers and be offered more
partnerships/joint ventures if you have a high Google PR site
than a low one. It will make a difference to your bottom line.
PageRank is important. PageRank has meaning. Even if it has
little bearing on your SERPs rankings or Google traffic,
PageRank can greatly influence the success of your online site
or venture. Don't ignore or dismiss PageRank as a meaningless
relic that didn't quite work out as Google had planned for it in
the first place.
High PageRank Will Always Be Valuable
The day Google gives its own site a PageRank of PR1 or PR2
instead of the current PR10 - that's the day you can dismiss
PageRank as truly meaningless.
===============================================
The author is a full-time online marketer. For the latest web
marketing tools try: Internet Marketing Tools
(
http://www.bizwaremagic.com) or why not try these: Free
Marketing Courses (
http://www.marketingtoolguide.com/
free_marketing_tools.htm). Copyright © 2007 Titus Hoskins. This
article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.
===============================================
Copyright © 2007 Jayde Online, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
SiteProNews is a registered service mark of Jayde Online, Inc.
