It seems like there are several threads around the SEO forum space that have discussion on a recent PageRank update. Yes, even more recent then the June PageRank update. There is a WebmasterWorld thread, a few DigitalPoint Forum threads and...
It seems like there are several threads around the SEO forum space that have discussion on a recent PageRank update. Yes, even more recent then the June PageRank update. There is a WebmasterWorld thread, a few DigitalPoint Forum threads and...
There are hundreds of reports across the web about a Google PageRank update. Most of you know, I am not a fan of the PageRank score displayed in the Google Toolbar, but I report it anyway, because I report what...
A couple weeks ago, the news that Google treated the distribution of PageRank for pages with nofollow links differently then they would other pages. As explained then: If you have $10 in authority to spend on those ten links, and...
Yesterday we covered the news that SEOs are wasting PageRank by using the nofollow to sculpt their PageRank. In short, if you had 10 links on a page, and nofollowed 5 of them, the 5 that are followed only get...
Last night at SMX Advanced Matt Cutts of Google reportedly dropped a bombshell on the SEO community when he said that using the nofollow to PageRank sculpt might not work like you (SEOs) thought. Danny Sullivan explained it well: If...
Starting yesterday afternoon, people began noticing the little green pixels in the Google Toolbar began updating. Yes, there was a Google Toolbar PageRank update last night and many of the forums are buzzing about it. Yes, a Toolbar PageRank update...
A Google Webmasters Help thread asks, what does it mean when the Google Toolbar PageRank indicator is a red color, as opposed to green? Here is a screen capture: So what does that mean? (1) Maybe this image was photoshoped...
We rarely cover Google updates these days, since it appears Google is in a constant flux. But I have noticed a dozen or so threads at DigitalPoint Forums and an updated WebmasterWorld, plus a few threads at Google Webmasters Help...
For over three years now, I and others (including Danny) have been trying to get information from Google on how they handle passing link value from domain names, specifically in cases of expired domains and domain name transfer of ownership....
The last time we discussed the grey PageRank Google toolbar indicator was just about two years ago. It was then when the gray/grey color changed from meaning banned to having no clear meaning. Back then, there was a blank white...
About a week ago, we wrote a piece about getting PageRank without links. In that write up, we wrote how Google may give pages temporary or artificial PageRank to make up for the page being new. We decided to poll...
A WebmasterWorld thread has interesting discussion around the topic of pages earning Google PageRank with little or no links to those pages. The discussion was started by a webmaster who asked, how can his page have a PageRank score of...
Yesterday, as well as today, I spotted dozens of threads on Google updating their site's toolbar PageRank scores. I didn't want to post the details until today, simply because it was April Fools. But the PageRank update seems to be...
The other day, we polled our audience, asking should URL shortening services pass link value? We now have 168 responses and I thought I share them with you. The response was overwhelming yes. 75% of the respondents said, these URL...
A Sphinn thread has discussion around a "quick" study done to test if URL shortening services like TinyURL and others pass any link value. Clearly, all the time you and I spend on services like Twitter, makes this question something...
Over the weekend, I have seen tons and tons of threads in several forums with webmasters and SEOs complaining that their PageRank score in the Google Toolbar took a dive. I will just list two threads, because I cannot list...
Last night at Search Engine Land I reported that Google Penalizes Google Japan For Buying Links. In short, the Google Japan team took on a marketing initiative to of paying bloggers for reviews, that turned out to be paid links,...
Marcus Tandler blogged about a discovery in a German SEO thread at my old time friend's forum named ABAKUS Forums (translated version over here), about a weird loophole that seems to allow you to check if a site is penalized...
Over the weekend, I noticed many reports from a wide array of search forums, where webmasters are noticing their PageRank scores drop in the Google Toolbar. We have threads from WebmasterWorld, two from DigitalPoint Forums, and a Google Webmaster Help...
On Tuesday, we ran a poll asking if Google's PageRank data reports in Webmaster Tools useless or useful. The results are in and the majority of SEOs believe those reports are completely useless. I am one to agree with the...
A WebmasterWorld thread asks just how accurate is the table in Google Webmaster Tools that shows the details of "Your page with the highest PageRank." It is found under "Statistics" and then under "Crawl stats" at the bottom of the...
An older WebmasterWorld thread has been updated to share the time frame it took this webmaster to transfer his Google PageRank scores from old URLs to new URLs. In summary, he set up a new URL structure (possibly a new...
Over Christmas and the holidays, we reported early signs of a Toolbar PageRank Update. Those reports have now been confirmed by Google's Matt Cutts via Twitter. Matt said about 6 hours ago: Yes, Google updated our toolbar PageRank values today....
I found a DigitalPoint Forums thread that was pretty funny. In short, they mentioned how www.yourdomain.com has a PageRank score of seven. It is true, the parked domain, www.yourdomain.com does have a PageRank score of seven. Web Page URL: http://www.yourdomain.com...
Over the weekend, I have noticed several threads mentioning updates to Google's Toolbar PageRank scores. The reports are not as widespread as a typical Toolbar PageRank update warrants, which leads me to ask, is this a true Toolbar PageRank update...
What happens if you want some good link juice to your domain? You may engage in the practice of buying a site and 301ing it to your old domain. In yesterday's PubCon session, we even talked about buying sites for...
A WebmasterWorld thread has discussion around how Google seems to not be promoting the PageRank indicator on the latest version of their toolbar. In fact, no longer is Google showing the PageRank score in the marketing image used on the...
If you are doing something naughty that results in lowered PageRank, should you tell Google that you addressed the issue? A Crea8site Forums thread discusses this issue: a webmaster notes that his site has lost PageRank, probably due to what...
Michael Gray explains why PageRank sculpting is important. He explains that Google has downplayed the use of PR sculpting but it seems that it's working pretty well for some people. Using an analogy with two very different cars (one, an...
A week or so ago, there was a Google toolbar PageRank update. I am now seeing several reports at DigitalPoint Forums and updates to a WebmasterWorld thread that Google seems to be rolling back that toolbar PageRank update. Honestly, I...
Over the weekend, Google updated the toolbar PageRank values. In fact, Matt Cutts of Google basically confirmed the update before it happened, saying: I wouldn’t be surprised if new PageRanks started showing up this weekend or so. I figured, since...
I cannot tell you how many times we see threads that are either reporting or questioning if there is a Google PageRank update. We try to document all "real" toolbar PageRank updates here, but often, very often, there are smaller...
On a Cre8asite Forums thread, a forum member is looking for the ideal link building strategy. If you had to choose one kind of quality link, which would you go for: a relevant site with a high PR but not...
Google's web browser, Chrome, launched two days ago and it was missing one major feature that SEOs took notice of. That feature is the PageRank indicator found in the Google Toolbar. But why is it missing? Is it just a...
Eric Enge interviewed Googler Maile Ohye relatively recently and provided an interesting summary of the interview on his blog. In the interview, Maile talks about the WebmasterTools API (especially with regards to extracting link data), using sitemaps for discovery, spam...
Michael Gray writes an interesting post about that teaching advanced link building and PageRank will never die. In the article, he explains that everyone who learns about optimization techniques are at different levels; some are more advanced and may consider...
In May, we blogged about Google VP of Engineering Udi Manber's post where he introduced search quality. In the same post, he says that Google has "made significant changes to the PageRank algorithm in January." Last week, Matt Cutts told...
CNet reports that Microsoft has announced BrowseRank, which they feel may help boost the search's popularity. CNet explains the difference between BrowseRank (BR?) and PageRank: Essentially, the researchers tested out a system that replaces PageRanks' link graph--a mathematical model of...
Google pushes out toolbar PageRank updates every 3 months or so. The most recent one was over the weekend, which helped generate some buzz. But the reality is, what Google shows as PageRank in the toolbar is way out of...
Google's Matt Cutts announced Google is pushing out "new toolbar PageRank values," over the course of the "next few days." Yes, I keep saying toolbar PageRank is really all that not important. You can read my thoughts on that over...
The incredibly popular NewsDay.com was at a PageRank of five recently, and Google specifically confirmed that NewsDay received this PageRank penalty due to "selling links that pass PageRank." But when I look at the Google Toolbar now at www.newsday.com, it...
A Cre8asite Forums thread has a member who is a bit concerned that the page listed in his Google Webmaster Tools, crawl stats section for "highest PageRank" is not his home page. Instead, an internal page is listed as having...
A WebmasterWorld thread asks a question most people who participate in search forums ask themselves. Does Google, on occasion, update the toolbar PageRank score of a particular web site between the major and mass toolbar PageRank updates we report? Why...
A WebmasterWorld thread is suggesting that after his site was hit by the PageRank penalty from several months ago, he has been getting more qualified advertisers. Here is what this publisher is saying: I've noticed an increase in quality advertisers...
On Thursday, we broke the news that the Yahoo Directory had no PageRank via a WebmasterWorld thread. Matt Cutts of Google quickly commented saying that the Yahoo Directory has a PageRank of 8. Matt was referring to the home page,...
Just a few weeks ago, people started noticing that the Yahoo Directory lost Google PageRank. Well, not the home page of the Yahoo Directory, but the inside directory listing pages. The pages that link to your site and, in the...
A Google Groups user is afraid that his PageRank was impacted because of too many links on his homepage. Before you wonder whether there are search engine penalties, think about those links from a usability perspective. Are they helping your...
The New York Times reports that "Google researchers say they have a software technology intended to do for digital images on the Web what the company’s original PageRank software did for searches of Web pages." The algorithm, dubbed VisualRank, weighs...
I am seeing reports from across the SEO forums that Google has updated or begun the update of the PageRank score found within the Google Toolbar. We have threads at DigitalPoint Forums, Search Engine Roundtable Forums, WebmasterWorld and Search Engine...
A DigitalPoint Forums thread asks if PageRank sculpting, be it through the nofollow attribute, JavaScript or robots.txt file, can it penalize you in Google? Will Google ever look at that to penalize your site? And so on. I am 99%...
Face it. Sometimes you can exchange links for free, and other times, you just have to buy a link. But is there a minimum toolbar PageRank number that you should go by before buying that link? Obviously, this isn't a...
I have been tracking a thread at WebmasterWorld where this webmaster is shocked to learn that the site he just acquired now has a PageRank score of 10. Before buying the site, it had no PageRank score at all but...
Google has updated the PageRank bars within the Google Directory recently. The new update now matches the PageRank values of the Google Toolbar. For example, the Computers > Internet > Web Design and Development > Promotion > Weblogs category now...
Have we beaten the Google Toolbar PageRank value dead yet? If not, here is yet another reason not to take too much insight to the value displayed in the Google Toolbar. Googler, Berghausen, said in a Google Group thread, and...
I honestly wanted to avoid this topic, but due to the amount of attention on this topic right now, it is our duty to let the non-forum activists know about the controversy. Shari Thurow authored an article on Search Engine...
After reviewing DigitalPoint Forums, I saw about 5 different threads discussing a PageRank update at Google. I am honestly not sure if this is a legit update but it doesn't really matter. A toolbar PageRank update has no immediate or...
Some may have missed this and I tried to avoid writing about it again, but I figured it might be good to document for the future. Google has pushed out yet another PageRank update for those sites who sell links,...
While everyone continues to stress about Google PageRank (and I, too, am one of those types at times... some people make fun of me often), it's rather easy to give up and hand it to Google for impacting your site...
Bill Slawski recently wrote an interesting post entitled Yahoo Replaces PageRank Assumptions with User Data. In the article, he discusses a "User Sensitive PageRank" patent application filed by Yahoo that addresses the flaws with PageRank. These flaws include the assumption...
A DigitalPoint Forums thread reports that Google Directory also noticed an update from DMOZ and new PageRank bars. We reported last week on the first PageRank update of 2008, and as Andy Beard points out also, the Google Directory is...
Today we are having our first Google Toolbar PageRank update of 2008. At least there are dozens and dozens of reports that PageRank scores on the 72.14.25.x data center has been updated. What does this mean to you? To your...
Michael Gray discovered a very controversial tactic that Google is employing on their website. He notes that several partners who have implemented Google Checkout have PR8 links without nofollow. Obviously, there's some concern here. Why is Google not following their...
We are getting reports from across the SEO forums that Google has done another toolbar PageRank update. The update seems to be, once again, hitting sites that sell or buy links. Many are seeing PageRank drops to a flat out...
Ever since Google downgraded the visible PageRank scores seen in the Google Toolbar for sites that do not use the nofollow on their ads, people have been wondering how it has been impacting the Google search results and algorithm. Most...
A topic most SEOs already know, but it is nice to have confirmation from Google. A Google Groups thread has Googlers responding to a Webmaster who's site dropped from a PageRank 4 to a PageRank of 0. It appears this...
There is discussion at a DigitalPoint Forums thread that Google is updating the visible toolbar PageRank scores. I personally did not look deep into this. Because (1) Toolbar PageRank is not all that significant and (2) I am very under...
Before beginning this post, I will be honest, I struggled if I should post anything at all, because I feel like I have been writing about this PageRank update way too often in the past three months. But I found...
Many SEOs have been calling for Google to remove the PageRank score from the Google Toolbar for years now. Heck, we wrote dozens of articles on it, including these: Why Do Some SEOs Want Toolbar PageRank To Go Away? Google...
Matt Cutts recently spoke with Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz and made a few interesting statements that elicited some interesting forum response. First, WebmasterWorld members were particularly interested in this statement: we did do a full PageRank update several weeks ago...
With all the debate and discussion around paid links these days, some DigitalPoint Forums members are wondering how Google can get away with selling links that are not nofollowed. That is right, if you want a PageRank 7 link directly...
After October's Google PageRank massacre, a lot of sites scrambled in hopes of trying to salvage what they had left. Some stopped paid links altogether. Some stopped advertising. One guy audited his site, where he discovered that 20 of 25...
Somehow, I think that the incident with Shopzilla is related to the recent news that anyone using the PayPerPost method just got their PageRanks reduced this weekend. Forum members have mixed reactions. Some have obviously participated in such schemes. Others...
Shopzilla must've been hit hard by the PageRank massacre, or so one would suspect. A blogger was offered $100 to remove a PayPerPost review that he had written on Shopzilla. But in the second mail they were offering me $100...
Andy Beard has been tracking the Google PageRank changes like a hawk and he reported PageRank Zeros to many sites. There are also many people reporting PageRank Zeros at DigitalPoint Forums. Those reporting that they have a PageRank of zero...
Google has updated the Toolbar PageRank score again over the weekend. Reports come from WebmasterWorld and a dozen different threads at DigitalPoint Forums. This seems to be a continuation of the paid link PageRank downgrades. Andy Beard documented some of...
There are hundreds of third party PageRank tools that show Google's Toolbar PageRank score. Some of the more popular ones can be found by doing a search in Google for pagerank checker. Many of these tools are now not able...
There is an excellent Cre8asite Forums thread brewing on the topic of Google's Supplemental Index. The thread basically asks if the percent of pages on a specific domain can be used to determine the overall site's importance in the eyes...
There appears to be more reports of issues with Google's Webmaster Tools. The issues are not exactly the same as we reported earlier, but the issue appears to impact the same tool, the Link Reporting tool at Google Webmaster Tools....
Selling links? Matt Cutts has told Loren at Search Engine Journal that it was buying and selling links that ended up getting your PageRank lowered over the past few days. The partial update to visible PageRank that went out a...
The largest topic by far this week in the forums is the PageRank update that hit sites that are selling links. There are literally dozens upon dozens of threads at many of the webmaster forums on the topic. We covered...
With all that is going on with these PageRank Scores, I am seriously amazed to see a DigitalPoint Forums thread with a poll that shows SEOs are still all over the board on the meaning of PageRank. The poll asked...
Yesterday we reported about a 2nd Google PageRank in October 2007 which turned out to be a message from Google, at least most of us think so. At Search Engine Land I wrote in Google's PageRank Update Goes After Paid...
A DigitalPoint Forums thread is reporting yet another large PageRank update taking place in the Google Toolbar. So you know, there already was a PageRank update this month and it is unusual for there to be large PageRank updates twice...
Seems like Google rolled out some new green pixy dust to their Google Toolbar PageRank bar. There are threads at both DigitalPoint Forums and WebmasterWorld discussing the PageRank update. Here is my disclaimer on PageRank, before people start jumping on...
Gabs from SEO Home reported at a Search Engine Roundtable Forums thread that the Google Directory PageRank bars have updated. There is a difference, sometimes, between the PageRank shown in the Google Directory when compared to the PageRank shown in...
When you login to Google Webmasters Tools and click on your "Crawl stats" under the statistics section, you are suppose to see a screen like this: Notice it shows two tables, the first is for "The PageRank of your pages...
An interesting discussion has emerged on the Cre8asite Forums about what webmasters and SEOs alike would do if Google were to get rid of that "little green bar" (since it really causes so much frustration). Most of the folks are...
There's an interesting poll on DigitalPoint Forums about the obsessive compulsive nature of users when there are Google PageRank updates. We've already explored last week how Google should consider removal of the PageRank score and this poll's results seem to...
Yesterday, Barry reported on the WebmasterWorld discussion about removing the PageRank tool. After a bit of feedback, Adam Lasnik of Google has written on the thread, where he emphasizes the importance of PageRank. PageRank is an important signal and remains...
Tedster, administer over at WebmasterWorld, started a WebmasterWorld thread with a proposal to remove PageRank from the toolbar. As he explains, the PageRank score in the toolbar is an out-of-date metric that is often misconstrued by SEOs and webmasters. Tedster...
A WebmasterWorld thread alerts us to a fake domain auction where a webmaster is selling a domain with an over-inflated and entirely fake PageRank. How is this being done? The user explains: This seller builds up the backlinks and PR...
EGOL started a thread at Cre8asite Forums asking how using the various robots.txt command or META noindex nofollow commands will impact the flow of PageRank and link popularity. Several members go through some detailed examples and what-if scenarios. However, Ammon...
In a Search Engine Watch Forums thread, a member asks whether it is beneficial to utilize an XML sitemap for your SEO efforts. The answer, according to other forum members, is yes: Google sitemaps is the system that tells G...
In a DigitalPoint Forums thread, a member asks how to check for an invalid PageRank. This is a timely question given that there was a PageRank update earlier this week. Since you can fake your PageRank, it's good to have...
I'll be honest, I haven't been following the different shades of colors in the Google Toolbar. But Gabs, someone I trust started a thread at Search Engine Roundtable Forums noting that new pages now have a grey color in the...
This weekend we has a PageRank update and many noticed a drop in their toolbar PageRank scores. Earlier, on Friday, we reported some were noticing possible buggy PageRank values. Where some noticed their PageRank drop from a number to zero...
As much as you explain that toolbar PageRank does not show you a result that you can work with, people still tend to obsess about PageRank. Go ahead and read Danny's PageRank Guide once again. In any event, on Friday...
Now that we know that toolbar PageRank does not mean all that much, in terms of ones ranking at this point in time - we can discuss a possible bug in the Google Toolbar. A WebmasterWorld thread has dozens of...
I finally had time last night to read Danny's What Is Google PageRank? A Guide For Searchers & Webmasters. This write up is undoubtedly the best explanation of Google PageRank I have seen in years. Not only does it include...
Ready for a laugh? A WebmasterWorld thread has someone asking if he is crazy that he is using Google's PageRank score as one of the factors in picking a business school for him to attend. I am in the process...
Looks like we have reports via WebmasterWorld starting a few days back of a Google PageRank update. I am not getting in the debate of how important PageRank is or is not. I discussed PageRank over here so that I...
SEOs and Webmasters always wondered how long it took for a typically site to pass along a PageRank value from one URL to another via a 301 redirect. Google's Adam Lasnik answered this question, saying only about a couple weeks....
In a WebmasterWorld thread, there is a question about how can one preserve the PageRank value they have on his pages and not spread it out to others too much. Of course, you know my rant on PageRank, but outside...
After writing my piece named Why Do Some SEOs Want Toolbar PageRank To Go Away? I found a thread at DigitalPoint Forums asking members to vote if "PR is Overhyped." Here are the current results: 80% vote yes, PageRank is...
Recently, there has been a lot of discussion over the PageRank score found within Google's Toolbar. So I thought I explain why I, and many other SEOs/SEM reporters would love to see the PageRank score disappear from the Google Toolbar....
Last night, more new reports of PageRank changes have been reported at the various forums. Again, the PageRank score shown in the Google Toolbar is old, not up to date, and is basically for entertainment purposes only - but people...
It appears that there is a Google Toolbar PageRank update underway. For anyone not familiar with this topic, the value of the toolbar-displayed PageRank is often argued. A recent discussion which helps to clear up the original poster's misconceptions about...
On March 18, 2004, Yahoo! released what they called Yahoo! Web Rank. Yahoo! explained it as follows: Yahoo! Web Rank is the name that Yahoo! has given to a technical measurement of a particular URL's popularity. If you choose to...
I wrote last Friday about a Possible Google Update Before Holiday Season? Matt Cutts commented here saying; I posted on WMW. I'm not aware of anything big that went out yesterday, so I'm assuming that this is normal ranking changes...
WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums are both reporting significant changes in rankings at Google starting last night. Typically, Google, since December 2003 (aka the Florida update), Google does not want to shake up the search results (did not mention search ads...
WebProNews is shooting video all week at SES Chicago and they have recently posted an excellent one named SES: Google’s Fox Clarifies Sitemaps, PageRank. Here are my notes, the video is about 18 minutes. Rand asks is the duplicate content...
In Google Sitemaps there is a statistic under stats/ crawl statistics that shows you "Your page with the highest PageRank." It looks like this for this site: Now, several people are reporting that they have heard of or seen themselves,...
Just a quick note that there may be a possible PageRank update taking place right now. It is unsure to if this update is a new one or something called a PageRank rollback. Some even think that the earlier PageRank...
According to Brett Tabke in this "WebmasterWorld thread, links within the NOSCRIPT tag are not counted by Google in terms of passing PageRank. Brett adds that "Google flips on/off support for noscript indexing from time to time," meaning Google may...
The sixth edition of the Search Pulse has now been archived. Tim Mayer from Yahoo! was our special guest. Tim told us that we can expect support from Yahoo! on the NOODP tag, but it would be a lot more...
It is pretty well known that Google assigns a trust factor or trust rank to sites as a whole. I have personally seen it come and go with sites. What this means is that if you are a pure white...
Aaron Pratt at Cre8asite Forums asks why Google is showing us outdated PageRank values. He asks, "Can Google Multitask or is it in need of some serious upgrades?" What is interesting is that this seems to come after Matt Cutts...
Yes, an other Google PageRank update is underway. For example DigitalPoint.com has some data centers reporting a PageRank of 8, when it is currently at a PageRank on 7. Check the DigitalPoint's pagerank at this tool. The data centers with...
It has been a while since a Googler knocked on buying links in a while. But recently, mini-Matt, Adam Lasnik, of Google, wrote in a WebmasterWorld thread saying; Advertising's fine Buying links for PR: bad Google senses much ;) So...
A WebmasterWorld thread has a very interesting questions. Does Google, or any other search engine, associate link popularity to a portion of a page? For example, if I link to a page and anchor down to a specific portion of...
Last Friday, I posted a fun topic at the SEW blog asking, Washington Post Selling Text Links? I followed up that post with a Search Engine Watch Forum thread named Do Washington Post Blogroll Links Pass Link Pop? At first...
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