Comments on: Google’s PageRank Drop - SEOs Dissapoint Me http://www.webconnoisseur.com/blog/seo/googles-pagerank-drop-seos-dissapoint-me/ Dustin Woodard's thoughts on search, web analytics and the web in general. Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:24:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.7 by: Anonymous http://www.webconnoisseur.com/blog/seo/googles-pagerank-drop-seos-dissapoint-me/#comment-25434 Sat, 08 Mar 2008 18:40:54 +0000 http://www.webconnoisseur.com/blog/seo/googles-pagerank-drop-seos-dissapoint-me/#comment-25434 Excellent post. Keep it up! Excellent post. Keep it up!

]]> by: dustin http://www.webconnoisseur.com/blog/seo/googles-pagerank-drop-seos-dissapoint-me/#comment-19148 Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:05:31 +0000 http://www.webconnoisseur.com/blog/seo/googles-pagerank-drop-seos-dissapoint-me/#comment-19148 Foliovision: I agree - traffic is a decent indicator, though rank can leak slowly and seasonality can play tricks with search traffic. I took an alternative approach at my last company: At my last company, we ranked #1 for millions of keywords so I used sample buckets of rank. For example, I might have generic 1-2 word queries, more specific but common 2-3 word queries, and very specific queries (more than 5 words). Those buckets give an SEO great indicators of problems and change effectiveness, plus provide a great way to know what affect things like the PR situation has on a site. Foliovision: I agree - traffic is a decent indicator, though rank can leak slowly and seasonality can play tricks with search traffic. I took an alternative approach at my last company:

At my last company, we ranked #1 for millions of keywords so I used sample buckets of rank. For example, I might have generic 1-2 word queries, more specific but common 2-3 word queries, and very specific queries (more than 5 words). Those buckets give an SEO great indicators of problems and change effectiveness, plus provide a great way to know what affect things like the PR situation has on a site.

]]> by: Foliovision http://www.webconnoisseur.com/blog/seo/googles-pagerank-drop-seos-dissapoint-me/#comment-19084 Wed, 19 Dec 2007 02:52:10 +0000 http://www.webconnoisseur.com/blog/seo/googles-pagerank-drop-seos-dissapoint-me/#comment-19084 On big media you can't really measure a drop in rank, unless you've been running at least weekly ranking reports on a huge variety of keywords. The simpler way to test would be on traffic. If traffic hasn't dropped off at all, then ranking is pretty much the same (it could be a switch to high traffic keywords to long tail, but that would be a weird Google twist and quite unlikely). On big media you can’t really measure a drop in rank, unless you’ve been running at least weekly ranking reports on a huge variety of keywords.

The simpler way to test would be on traffic. If traffic hasn’t dropped off at all, then ranking is pretty much the same (it could be a switch to high traffic keywords to long tail, but that would be a weird Google twist and quite unlikely).

]]> by: Dustin http://www.webconnoisseur.com/blog/seo/googles-pagerank-drop-seos-dissapoint-me/#comment-13848 Fri, 26 Oct 2007 14:52:18 +0000 http://www.webconnoisseur.com/blog/seo/googles-pagerank-drop-seos-dissapoint-me/#comment-13848 Jennifer: So it really is a targeted cosmetic toolbar change. I know many people are pissed off about it, but I must tip my hat to google, I think it had the effect they were after (many link sellers are scrambling). However, the web crowd is very adaptable - I wouldn't be surprised to see an increasing number of alternative metrics used to sell links. This would be a great opportunity for people like Rand who offer alternative pagerank scores (trust rank, etc.). Patrick: Google definitely has an increasing stronghold - it would do the web good if the other engines could increase their marketshare, but we've been saying that for a while. In some ways it is nice to focus mostly on one engine, but I gladly welcome a brand new player. Ideally, there would be three major players with nearly equal market share. Oh, I have to go cut this short - gotta check out Google webmaster tools, Google custom search, Google Adsense, Google Adwords, Google Publisher, Google Coop, Google video, Google Analytics, Google Trends, Google Suggest, Google Gadgets, Blogspot, Google Search, Google images, Google blog search, Google video search, Google APIs, Orkut, Google Documents, Google Spreadsheets, Froogle, Google Checkout, Google Patent search, iGoogle, Google search history, Google site optimizer, Google enterprise search, Google Scholar, and what's future Google things will be pushed out of Google Labs. Jennifer:
So it really is a targeted cosmetic toolbar change. I know many people are pissed off about it, but I must tip my hat to google, I think it had the effect they were after (many link sellers are scrambling). However, the web crowd is very adaptable - I wouldn’t be surprised to see an increasing number of alternative metrics used to sell links. This would be a great opportunity for people like Rand who offer alternative pagerank scores (trust rank, etc.).

Patrick: Google definitely has an increasing stronghold - it would do the web good if the other engines could increase their marketshare, but we’ve been saying that for a while. In some ways it is nice to focus mostly on one engine, but I gladly welcome a brand new player. Ideally, there would be three major players with nearly equal market share. Oh, I have to go cut this short - gotta check out Google webmaster tools, Google custom search, Google Adsense, Google Adwords, Google Publisher, Google Coop, Google video, Google Analytics, Google Trends, Google Suggest, Google Gadgets, Blogspot, Google Search, Google images, Google blog search, Google video search, Google APIs, Orkut, Google Documents, Google Spreadsheets, Froogle, Google Checkout, Google Patent search, iGoogle, Google search history, Google site optimizer, Google enterprise search, Google Scholar, and what’s future Google things will be pushed out of Google Labs.

]]> by: Patrick Lee http://www.webconnoisseur.com/blog/seo/googles-pagerank-drop-seos-dissapoint-me/#comment-13831 Fri, 26 Oct 2007 05:41:21 +0000 http://www.webconnoisseur.com/blog/seo/googles-pagerank-drop-seos-dissapoint-me/#comment-13831 Very true, Jennifer. I don't think our editors even know what a PageRank is. They just want to know where we sit for certain keywords and that doesn't seem to have changed much recently. Personally I think Google just has too much power over people and too much market share for their own good (or anyone's good for that matter). I'm really hoping for some more diversity among search engines in the future. Oh, I'll have to cut this short... gotta go check my Gmail for Google News Alerts, review my Google Calendar, catch up on my Google Reader, plot a new running route in Google Maps, check in with my friends in Google Groups, make some revisions in my Google Docs, and read up on the company stock in Google Finance... yeah, umm, down with Google, errr... I guess. ;) Very true, Jennifer. I don’t think our editors even know what a PageRank is. They just want to know where we sit for certain keywords and that doesn’t seem to have changed much recently.

Personally I think Google just has too much power over people and too much market share for their own good (or anyone’s good for that matter). I’m really hoping for some more diversity among search engines in the future. Oh, I’ll have to cut this short… gotta go check my Gmail for Google News Alerts, review my Google Calendar, catch up on my Google Reader, plot a new running route in Google Maps, check in with my friends in Google Groups, make some revisions in my Google Docs, and read up on the company stock in Google Finance… yeah, umm, down with Google, errr… I guess. ;)

]]> by: Jennifer Laycock http://www.webconnoisseur.com/blog/seo/googles-pagerank-drop-seos-dissapoint-me/#comment-13810 Thu, 25 Oct 2007 23:26:41 +0000 http://www.webconnoisseur.com/blog/seo/googles-pagerank-drop-seos-dissapoint-me/#comment-13810 I dunno...Barry at SERoundtable, Loren at Search Engine Journal and myself (Search Engine Guide) all wrote posts stating that search rankings and traffic was just fine. In fact, my post talking about our drop pretty much said "what's the big deal?" I've seen the same from many others. It's a line in a toolbar. It's not the boss of me. (or anyone else.) I dunno…Barry at SERoundtable, Loren at Search Engine Journal and myself (Search Engine Guide) all wrote posts stating that search rankings and traffic was just fine.

In fact, my post talking about our drop pretty much said “what’s the big deal?” I’ve seen the same from many others.

It’s a line in a toolbar. It’s not the boss of me. (or anyone else.)

]]> by: Patrick Lee http://www.webconnoisseur.com/blog/seo/googles-pagerank-drop-seos-dissapoint-me/#comment-13780 Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:57:09 +0000 http://www.webconnoisseur.com/blog/seo/googles-pagerank-drop-seos-dissapoint-me/#comment-13780 Well, despite the PageRank turmoil at other newspapers, I am happy to report that the Idaho Statesman (www.idahostatesman.com) remains a PR6. Who would have thought that our mid-size paper would have a higher PR than the Washington Post, Seattle Times, and SF Chronicle. Although it might have had something to do with a certain toe-tapping senator... Well, despite the PageRank turmoil at other newspapers, I am happy to report that the Idaho Statesman (www.idahostatesman.com) remains a PR6. Who would have thought that our mid-size paper would have a higher PR than the Washington Post, Seattle Times, and SF Chronicle. Although it might have had something to do with a certain toe-tapping senator…

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