Internet Web Blog Search Engine Optimization
I'll never forget the time one of my websites made it to the top
Alexa toolbar also useful to Browse expired websites database. Ma
I had an email "conversation" this last week which I feel others
With the help of MSN, recently I've been reminiscing about the Go
With the help of MSN, recently I've been reminiscing about the Go
SEO and webmaster functions are familiar to those with training a
Some webmasters report that search engines account for 75% or mor
SEO and webmaster functions are familiar to those with training a
If this is your first time learning search engine optimisation (S
I'll never forget the time one of my websites made it to the top
I had an email "conversation" this last week which I feel others may benefit from "listening in" on. Here it is in summary:
"Andy
Why is it that xxxxxxx ranks so well on Google for the phrase xxxxxx xxxxxx when it has a PR of 0. The other top results have PRs of 5 and 6. Is Page Rank becoming less important?
Graham"
My answer to Graham was to go back and read a previous newsletter where I discussed just this. In issue 48 I discussed anomalies in PR and backlinks. You can read it online here:
http://ez-search-engine-optimization.com/issue48
In reply, Graham wrote back:
"Andy
If Google are not telling us the real PR values, how can we find out the PR of a site? This is making link exchanges much more difficult. How are we supposed to know whether a link partner is good if we don't know their true PR?
Graham"
and my reply went something like this:
"Graham,
Google released backlinks and Page Rank data to the webmaster community. However, in doing so, they unleashed a monster.
SEOs quickly reverse-engineered the Google algorithm which showed how important both backlinks and PR really were to high rankings.
Every SEO and his cat went out to increase backlinks, and increase PR to their sites. Knowing the Page Rank of another site was fundamental in "manipulating" the PR of your own site. Knowing the linking structure of other sites was fundamental in beating the system and getting your link structure just right for top rankings.
SEOs were manipulating the results using information that became available as soon as Google released PR and backlink data.
Why does Google dislike this? Well, Google wants the best pages to rise to the top of the rankings. A best page might be described as the page with the most relevant content for the search query that was run at Google.com.
As webmasters became better at manipulating PR and backlinks, more and more rubbish began to surface in the top results, and that remains today. Pages ranking well only because a good SEO did his or her job, not because the page is the most relevant.
This is why Google have removed your privileges and no longer gives accurate PR or backlink data. They don't want you to have it any longer. They have it in their database and use it for ranking purposes, they just don't tell you that information any more.
As to your question about how to find the real PR if Google toolbar does not show it - there is no way. This is information that Google own, and they have no obligation to give it to you. By hiding this information, Google probably hopes that webmasters will give up the obsession of PR and backlinks, and concentrate on providing quality content that searchers will find interesting - content that adds value to the net.
So how do you know if a link partner is a good one? Simple. Look at their website and see if it is quality or rubbish. A quality site will always be a good link partner, a rubbish site will never be a good link partner.
This is how Google always envisaged PR and backlinks working together to pick the best pages for search results. Sites vote for others based on quality of site, not because of what benefits you might get for providing the link."
Andy Williams is author of the free, ezSEO internet marketing newsletter,
offering subscribers up-to-date information on all aspects of internet
marketing. His search engine
optimization website offers unique, no
BS information, for free.
OK, you published your site, now you just sit by the phone with a notepad as the orders pour in, right? Well, weeks go by and nothing happens. What's wrong? Oops, you forgot to submit to search engines. No problem, you go onto Google, Yahoo, MSN, perha
Welcome to the second part of our series of articles on search engine optimization. In the previous article we discussed keywords, domain names, content and keyword density issues. This article moves past that to the nitty gritty of improving your web pag
Zero, again, the amount of traffic to your site is zero and I am going insane. If this sounds like you, I would continue reading because you need to see how you can increase the amount of traffic to your site substantially without even doing any search en
In the best case scenario the model of SEO would provide business with a fair shake in search engine rankings while giving visitors the opportunity to find legitimate information on your site. In a perfect world, search engines would give you altered r
Sometimes a Search Engine Optimization company will miss that glaring question posed by potential clients and assume the benefits of Search Engine Optimization are obvious to everyone. While shelling out a couple thousand on an SEO campaign is commo