PageRank Is Now Done, Let’s Evaluate & Move On

This past Friday (October 26th) Google’s datacenters began the process of changing the PageRank for sites across the internet. This followed the two-prong paid link penalty phase pre-update which occurred earlier. Specifically, in late summer Google went after the directories and earlier this week Google penalized a number of sites who sell links or engage in some sort of activity that impacts PageRank.

Looking Forward, Not Back

I won’t rehash all that has taken place the past few months simply because it is common knowledge and I am not interested in looking at what has been. Even as I write this article my focus is partially on the most recent update, with the bulk of my attention given to planning for the future.

PageRank Is Dispensed To Various Articles And Blog Entries

As far as this web address is concerned, the home page and this blog managed to hold steady at PR4 while The Auto Writer, my second blog, fell one notch to PR3. Importantly, specific blog posts and articles I wrote picked up PageRank, with some of the heavier trafficked URLs notching a PR3. Oddly, PageRank seems to have been dished out for blog posts made in August and September while various heavily trafficked articles written in May, June and July show no changes (the previous PageRank export took place on April 27th).

SERPS Trumps PageRank

One thing that has held consistent throughout 2007 is PageRank as The Article Writer has held steady at PR4. Traffic, however, has increased four-fold since January resulting in new business opportunities for me. I rank very well for certain keywords and keyword phrases which has opened up several windows of opportunities for me. Clearly, PageRank isn’t all that important to me as the site’s performance with the search engine results pages (SERPs) is what triggers the work that pays my bills.

Planning Ahead With A New Strategy

Although I don’t want to kill the golden goose, some of my new strategy will change the way that I blog. Specifically:

• I eventually will be blogging an average of three days per week here and two days per week on The Auto Writer. I cannot maintain my current pace if I am to provide material that is interesting and compelling.

• The work I am providing for customers is on the increase. I blog regularly on SayEducate, I’m providing content for a jewelry site, and I recently started a monthly automotive column for a Midwest US magazine (more about that in December). I have a few other irons in the fire I am ready to pull out too.

Finally, I plan on activating at least three new sites over the next two months. I own several domains (dropped, forwarded or dormant) that I plan on developing into full sites. Two sites I plan on keeping while the third I will likely flip. The strategy I have employed with CabinManagers (niche site targeting a specific audience) is paying off and I will employ that strategy in the development of the new sites.

PageRank, Just A Google Tool

PageRank is nothing but a Google tool to measure a site, blog or web page. You can’t do anything about PageRank, but you can bring customers to your site through superior SERPs positioning. By developing web pages which cause visitors to take an important action (click on an ad, fill out a form, buy a product) money can be made, whereas with PageRank you have no control over the process. Besides, it appears Google has devalued this product, perhaps because it has been “gamed” to death.

Now, can we put the PageRank cares behind us once and for all?