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Google PageRank Update Analysis

For those of you not yet aware Google is currently updating thePageRank they are displaying in their toolbar. Each updatecauses a stir among the SEO community and webmasters trying toget their websites to the top of the Google Rankings.

What Is PageRank?

Without getting into too much detail PageRank is essentially ascore out of ten as to the “value” of your site in comparison toother websites on the Internet. It is based on two primaryfactors; the number of links you have pointing to your websiteand the value of the links pointing to your website. The valueis calculated based on the PageRank of the page linking to youand debatably the relevancy of the page linking to you there isno hard evidence to back up the relevancy factor in regards toPageRank that I have seen however it definitely is a factor inyour overall ranking.

If you are interested in more information on PageRank you woulddo well to visit the many forums and articles on the topic andalso visit Google’s own description on their website at http://www.google.com/technology/ wheretheygive a brief description of the technology.

What’s New?

The most current PageRank update will undoubtedly cause a largerstir than usual in that many sites have shown drops in theirvisible PageRank while at the same time showing significantincreases in their backlinks. This fact reveals that one ofthree things has occurred in this latest update:

1. Google has raised the bar on PageRank making it moredifficult to attain a high level or
2. The way they aredisplaying their backlinks has changed or
3. The way theycalculate the value of an incoming link has changed.

Any of these are possible and has been noted in the past assomething they are willing to do. Additionally it is possiblefor all to occur at the same time.

As we don’t like to use client’s as examples I will use theBeanstalk site backlink counts and PageRank changes as themeter by which the following conclusions are drawn however thisinformation was attained through looking at a number of clientwebsite and their competitors.

Google Raising The Bar To Lower Yours

In the past few PageRank updates it has become quite apparentthat Google is continuously raising the bar on PageRank. Intheir defense with all of the reciprocal link building linkrenting etc. going on this was a natural reaction to thegrowing number high PageRank sites that attained those rankssimply by building or buying hundreds and thousands oflinks.

There is no doubt that this is a factor in the changes in thiscurrent update. If your site has maintained it’s PageRank andthe PageRanks of your secondlevel pages then you have done wellin holding steady and if your competitors have not been asdiligent their positions will slip.

New Backlink Calculations I mention this oneonly to bring to light that it is a possibility for your futureconsideration during other updates. The Beanstalk website wentfrom 750 shown backlinks on Google to 864. it should be notedthat Google does not show all backlinks if you want a moreaccurate backlink count go to Yahoo! and enter”link:http://www.yourdomain.com” don’t forget thehttp://.

When the Beanstalk site showed 750 backlinks on Google we wereshowing around 12000 on Yahoo! about 6.5 showing on Google.The Beanstalk site is now showing 864 on Google and 15500 onYahoo! about 5.6. If anything then Google is showing lesslinks than before which negates the possibility that a website’sPageRank is dropping due to a decrease in links but being hiddenby an increased number being displayed.

In short while which backlinks Google chooses to display hascertainly changed over time it does not appear to be a majorfactor in this update. If you see an increase in your sitesbacklink counts during this update you undoubtedly have anincreased number of links.

The Value Of Links

Separate from the number of links you have is their value. Thisappears to be an area of significant change in this update.Areas that appear to have reduced value in regards to affectingPageRank are:

1. Multiple links from the same siteor runofsite links Intelligent and relevant reciprocallinks do not seem to have been penalized probably due to theincreased relevancy factor. If you reduce the value ofirrelevant links and raise the value of relevant ones then thereis no need to penalize reciprocal links as done incorrectlythey will penalize themselves.
2. Links with textaround them that indicate they are purchased such as “Partners”"Advertising” etc. Google has and is actively trying toreduce the value of paid links. This appears to have beenmoderately successful where there is clear indication that thelink is paid for.
3. Links from sites that holdlittle relevancy this factor is based on educated speculation The relevancy factor appears to have become moreimportant. Links from sites with content related to yours isshowing positive results while sites with larger numbers of lessrelevant links are showing drops in PageRank.

What Does This Mean?

For those of you who have been proactive in your link buildingand focused on relevant sites using the Google Directorysearches or a tool like PR Prowler it means “stay the course”. Those of youwho have been building or buying links based only on PageRankwith little concern for it’s location or how it is presentedyou will need to adjust your link building effortsaccordingly.

What Do I Do My PageRank Dropped ?!!?

The first thing not to do is panic. Take a deepbreath PageRank is one factor of dozens that Google uses todetermine the ranking of your page it is not the only thing.Now visit your main competitors sites there’s a good chanceyou’ll see that they too dropped in PageRank. The plus side tothese kinds of updates is that they’re universal. It’s not as ifGoogle has it in for you specifically and so when they do anupdate the positive and negative impact is felt by all.

Now if you’ve noticed that everyone around you has stayed thesame or increased in PageRank try to remember this there’snothing you can do about where you’re currently positioned inregards to PageRank and it will probably be another 3 monthsbefore Google updates the public PageRank again so … startbuilding some good quality high relevancy solid PageRanklinks work towards and increase in the next update.

Panicking now won’t help intelligent reaction will.

What Happens Now?

Traditionally the search engine results will begin to fluctuatebased on the new visible PageRank 3 to 7 days after they arevisible. This does not have to be the case as Google’s had thesenumbers all along but it’s worked this way in the majority ofcases in recent history. So monitor your search engine positionsover the next week or two and watch for changes. Try to holdback on making major changes to your site during this time asoften the final positions will differ from those that can beviewed during the shuffling. In a couple weeks time evaluatewhere you stand and tweak your site as necessary but don’t spendtoo much time on that … you have a solid link building effortto undertake.

Daniel Katz Business Development Manager at Compucall Web Marketing Ltd. experts in International Search Engine Optimization.

Related posts:

1. Google Pagerank Decreasing
2. Google PageRank And Web Site Backlinks
3. Gain High PageRank Easily
4. Fast Link Building In SEO Contest Without Getting Into Google
5. How To Get Indexed On Google Faster And Get More

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