Saturday, October 18, 2008

Common Page Rank Update Issues

By Calvin Preston

When a Page Rank updates, some common themes arise, which create some confusion as to what it means to your site's Page Rank. the confusion comes when the Page Rank fluctuates, and what that means to the site owner. Here are some of the most common issues:

1. If, during an update, your PR goes down, it is not necessarily a penalty. The PR is found in the Google toolbar, and is simply the grade that Google assigns your site. Losing powerful links or if a site that links to your site loses PR, will result in your PR lowering. If Google alters changes the way they determine PR, you can also lose PR. Keeping your content fresh will ensure your PR remaining steady. There are a lot of reasons for PR lowering, but none of them are penalty related. Being penalized will only occur if you disobey Webmaster Guidelines, and you will see that penalty in removal from the index or drastic drops in rankings.

2. The displayed PR is not necessarily current. The PR is only displayed current after an update. Although you may have created a well rounded link profile, perhaps added an interface for user generated content, and still end up with PR4 after a few months. You do not know your actual PR, so do not worry.

3. Higher rankings are not equal to higher PR. Focus on your traffic, rankings and conversions instead of your PR. many searches have PR0-3 that outrank PR4-6, so it is not the only method in the Google algorithm that measures your sites ranking. unless you are selling your links on your site, and need to show your PR as high to sell, do not worry about the PR. Be sure to keep that in perspective, while not completely ignoring it. PR is the general snapshot of your site in the eyes of Google. Generally, you will rank higher with high PR, but that is just one piece of the puzzle.

4. PR juice flows. Do not obsess about your PR, but realize that high PR links flow PR to your site as well. It is not as valuable to worry about your own site's PR as it is to ensure that your incoming links are from high or mid PR sites. If you are looking to gain links, naturally mix in high PR pages. When looking at PR as a trust snapshot, then getting a link from a trusted site, while being relevant to your industry, will boost your PR and you ranking.

Generally speaking, a drop or climb in PR that does not coincide with search results or traffic, should not be disconcerting. Yes, it is definitely exhilarating to watch your PR jump higher, but what is really key is TRAFFIC.

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