Those of you tracking your Google Page Rank (PR) may be well aware of the huge pandemonium that arrives whenever Google is said to be “updating its algorithm” or “distributing penalties.” Google takes these steps periodically in an effort to provide the most relevant results and ensure that no dubious or “black hat” techniques are being used to toy with the system.
PageRank is Google’s patented method of measuring a site’s authority and popularity. If CNN links to your site in an article about the Middle East conflict, Google can easily assume that your site has some very good content that CNN recognized by linking to your site. Similarly, if your site about the Middle East conflict has dozens of links to Viagra, Make Money Fast!, or other spammy types of sites, Google will look very suspiciously upon your site.
The PageRank that is visible on the Google Toolbar is an approximation of the real PageRank that Google measures for your site. While the Toolbar PageRank changes once or twice a year, the “real” PageRank is always in flux and constantly being adjusted.
When Google updates its PageRank algorithm, their engineers are literally going in and making tweaks to the algorithm it uses to measure various components of a website and assign it Page Rank. Page Rank is separate from other measures of success, such as search engine results. There are other factors outside of links, such as terms and phrases within your content, that affect your ranking in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
Last week, a Google PageRank update occurred that was focused almost exclusively on those sites that were buying, selling, and/or trading links for the express purpose of artificially raising PageRank. Some sites may have fallen through the cracks, and some might have gotten unfairly swept up in the cleanup. We feel compelled to caution that if your site has fallen through the cracks, it would be a very good idea to clean up before the next Google sweep – remove irrelevant links, link swaps, and paid links that don’t use the “nofollow” tag. Google unleashes these new algorithms and spreads penalties a few times a year, so take this time to learn more about how to properly increase your ranking without breaking rules so you can make sure that your page rank goes up without Google coming down on your site. Following the “rules” put down by Google ultimately support your readers by encouraging you to rely on providing well-written, quality content and follow good practices to raise your popularity, rather than leaning on questionable “quick fixes.”
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