Google PageRank Update & Other Distractions

In case you missed it, Google exported PageRank to its toolbar within the past week. I don’t have an exact date to share, but it should show up on your toolbar. Perhaps you were busy playing with Google + or maybe you simply don’t care — in any case, as much as Google tries to take the wind out of its PageRank sails, the Internet routinely lights up with discussions about this dysfunctional website ranking system.

I’m one of those who pretends he doesn’t care about PageRank, but in reality I do. Back in 2005, when I launched by “The Article Writer” website, it quickly zoomed to PR6. I never could figure out why it jumped so high, but eventually it fell back, dropping to PR2 or PR3 before returning to PR4 more than a year ago, the number where it remains today.

Up, Down or Unchanged

I manage several websites and immediately visited those sites including ones owned by clients. Beginning with this website, I noticed a drop from PR4 to PR3, but I believe that ranking to be largely deserved — I neglected the site from mid-February to late June, going with guest posts only when I posted at all. Personally, I would have spanked the site harder and knocked it down another notch.

My main automotive website at autotrends.org is now ranked PR4, which is up one notch while wordjourney.com is also up a spot and is now ranked at PR3, where it was more than a year ago. Most other sites stayed the same, although I must inform a customer that one of his sites, which was ranked PR4 last year and then fell to PR2, is now ranked at PR0. I’m not certain why, but I think there is an ad issue that could be causing a problem. Hmmm….

Search Engine Optimization

Regardless of whether PageRank were to officially be killed off or not, there are some things you can do to optimize your website. For my two sites which increased in rank, I will tell you that I worked hard to write articles that people have linked to, including detailed book reviews, product reviews and news items. I didn’t take those steps to help improve PageRank, rather to increase each site’s visibility and strength online. I write with my readers in mind, which is the best way to get acknowledged for what you do. SEO is grand, but readers won’t bother with your site if what you write is poorly written, boring or both.

Another method I took advantage of is to send updates to Facebook and Twitter for my busiest websites. I just started doing that for this website, so I fully expect that I’ll be at PR9 real soon. Just kidding.

Funny, I should have known that something was up when I started to get a rash of link exchange requests for my “Auto Trends Magazine” website earlier this week. As before, I’m not into link exchanges, preferring to call out worthy content naturally as part of links within an article or at the end of each article in a “Resources” or “References” section.

PageRank and Other January Musings

Google updated their PageRank on December 31st. Did you notice?

I must admit that I missed the blessed event which is strange considering that I was working on that date. Still, Google did what has now become an uncommon event: they exported their PageRank to the Google toolbar.

What this means is that everyone’s site has been reevaluated and assigned a fresh rank based on Google’s algorithm, a formula which remains a mystery to all except for those who are part of Google’s inner circle. Everyone has an opinion on how PageRank works, but unless your name is Matt Cutts and you’re talking, then then the rest of us should doubt what is being said.

For the record, Matt’s Musings remains at PR3 while my three other main sites are also now at PR3. The Article Writer dropped a notch, Word Journey climbed a notch, while Auto Trends remains the same. Talk about ranking parity when the traffic patterns for all four sites vary widely! Still, my linking strategies must have changed otherwise Google wouldn’t have adjusted their rankings accordingly.

So, what does this mean? Not much. Given that the toolbar export happens weeks after Google reassigns PageRank internally and that PageRank is a constantly fluctuating commodity, the ranking you see isn’t particularly accurate. Or at least it isn’t so today.

I haven’t dismissed PageRank completely, but I use other measuring points to gauge traffic including Google Analytics and Alexa. All three combined plus Compete and checking backlinks give me a better picture on how my sites are doing, but I’m sure that there are other measurements out there. I just don’t want to pay for them.

Beyond Matt Cutts there is much more to add today. But, I won’t bore you with trivialities or boorish behavior.

Revisiting LinkedIn

I was considering amending something I mentioned on New Year’s Day about LinkedIn, but decided against it. Instead, all I want to add about that is if you are on LinkedIn, you need to fill out your profile completely and obtain at least two recommendations in order for your information to be fully visible.

LinkedIn can also be valuable if you add the right keywords and keyword phrases to your profile. I stick these under “Specialties” which is part of the Summary section in my profile. Those words tell a lot about who I am and what I do for my customers, but they also add some SEO benefit to my page.

As mentioned previously and confirmed by so many others in the industry, Google loves LinkedIn profiles which means that when you Google your (unique) name, your LinkedIn data should appear on the first page of the search engine results page (SERP). Thank you, Matt Cutts!

Writing Better

Lastly, I want to encourage each of my readers who are inspiring writers to step up a notch in 2010.  I know of at least two people who want to expand their writing so that their works might appear on high profile sites and in select print publications for the very first time.

In order to do that, you must work at improving your writing. Certainly a writing class can help, but most bloggers have that down pat. They just need to incorporate some generally accepted rules to bring their writing up to the next level.

There are three books that can help you write better, each of which I own, but none which are offering me compensation to plug them (disclaimer). They are: The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law (AP Stylebook); Grammar Smart: A Guide to Perfect Usage (The Princeton Review); and The Chicago Manual of Style.

The AP stylebook is a must but if you find the Chicago Manual too bulky, then Grammar Smart can do the trick. In any case you will want to invest in yourself  by purchasing materials which can advance your work. Read and study them; apply what you learn to your writings. And if you get published, let me know!