Google Page Rank Updates - Patience is Required
So you gone to all the hard work of creating a great site with targeted keywords, unique content and even worked on getting some quality backlinks, but still your Google Page Rank hasn’t changed.
Why?
Well the reason for this is that google doesn’t update the published Page Rank (accessible by all the tools) very regularly - In fact only every 2 or 3 months. That’s not to say that the actual page rank (not divulged) is still not used to place your site on the correct page in the search results - I believe it is.
There is a concept called Projected Page Rank, and there is a website that has a tool to attempt to create this. How accurate is it? Well from what I can tell in some cases it can be, in others it’s not.
Here is the site to try out :
http://www.iwebtool.com/pagerank_prediction
Note - for this tools to work you need a minumum of 100 backlinks to start - so not so good for those startup sites.
Patience is required for any backlink tactics - especially to get page rank updates.
My next challenge is to find a tool that tells us what page our site sits on in a Google search. So far I’ve found a few that claim to gather this but none have worked yet. I might even create one myself. Wouldn’t it be nice for Google to give us some easier to read statistics? Google used to (not after December 2006) provide a Google API Key that allowed some more interrogation of your search rankings. The API Key went along with the now obsolete Google Search API.
Check out this site for Page Rankings (minus Google) : http://www.googlerankings.com
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Overlinking Example
I find this quite funny and hope you will too. In my constant quest for banklink juice and the best tactics I stumbled upon a blog dedicated to this topic. The site is titled Get More Visitors - which is a good name for sure. The content doesn’t look that bad either. Check out the site here : http://getmorevisitors.blogspot.com/
So you would think that the author might use his tactics to his advantage to increase his Google page rank right? We’ll I used the SEO for Firefox plugin and looked up the stats on the site :
Classic example of Overlinking
This site has a Google Page Rank of 0 - because it obviously has used some major backlink directory submissions. See how there are 155 Million Yahoo backlinks! Amazing! The number of Edu and Gov backlinks are huge too!.
Putting this into a Google search : link:http://getmorevisitors.blogspot.com/ returned only 1 backlink for Google.
This is a classic example of a backlink tactic gone wrong and I’m not sure if the site will ever rank well in Google because of it.
Do Follow
NoFollow attribute
If you haven’t learnt by now - Google introduced a tag on links called ‘nofollow’ and got pretty much all of the blog software developers to turn it on for links by default. This stops Google from indexing the backlink and did put a huge dent in the number of spam comments that were being created on blogs. All the social bookmarking and image sharing sites also use the nofollow attribute.
Here is an example of the nofollow attribute in use for this site :
<a href="http://backlinktactics.com" rel="nofollow">Backlink Tactics</a>
It seems that things have quietened down a little bit on the blog comment spam arena - especially because most blogs are comment moderated and have spam detection plugins.
Getting backlinks to your site that are nofollow is still valuable for generating traffic and also for Yahoo searches, but doesn’t help your Google Page Rank. Saying that generic traffic can help boost your visitors and in turn potentially create better organic traffic and valuable backlinks.
Do Follow
“Do Follow” is referring to a site that doesn’t use the nofollow tag. This blog is one. Why have I done this? Well because the value of the links on my site are high (if I end up with a good Page Rank) without the nofollow links then it will drive traffic. How will it drive traffic? Webmasters actively search for Do Follow blogs and there seems to be movements out there promoting them. There are even search engines out there specifically looking for them.
Here are a list of Do Follow Directories:
There are also search engines dedicated to finding Do Follow blogs too :
Remember to check the Page Rank of the site - especially where the comment is going to appear. This could create some very good backlinks if you can find high page rank keyword targeted blogs to comment on.
There is a trade off here though. If too many low page rank sites backlink to your site too quickly then it could negatively affect your page rank.
Low Page Rank Sites
There may be future value in low page rank sites. If you think the site is good it might increase in Page Rank and then your backlink will be worth more to your own Page Rank.
Link to Different Pages on your Site
Don’t keep backlinking to your home page - choose different individual pages on your site and link to those - much better for making more of your site have a good page rank - not just one page.
WordPress Do Follow Plugin
I’ve overwritten the default WordPress nofollow status with a plugin called No Follow Free. It’s worth checking out if you have a Wordpress blog and are interested in generating traffic purely because your blog is giving valuable Google backlink comments.
Some Terminology : Backlink Juice and Link Baiting
BackLink Juice
Backlink Juice or Link Juice is a term used to indicate that the site with the link has a high Google page rank and will improve your ranking. Sometimes it is mentioned that the Page Rank is passed from one site to another.
If you want to talk like an experience SEO (Search Engine Optimiser) then you better get with the Juice talk!
Link Baiting
Link baiting is another term used frequently in SEO. It means that the site attracts links naturally based on it’s useful content. A good example of this would be the articles with high Diggs on Digg. Another way to say this is : natural link building.
There at least 6 different types of Link Baiting :
- Informational Hooks
- News Hooks
- Evil Hooks
- Humour Hooks
- Tool Hooks
- Widget Hooks
- Ego Hooks
- Contrary Hooks
Informational Hooks
This one is pretty self explanatory - the page provides some unique and interesting information that viewers find very useful. Hopefully this page is of this type for you.
News Hooks
News articles attract heaps of attention on the web - especially if it’s a very topical subject. Catchy headlines and riveting info - just think like a journalist.
Evil Hooks
Upsetting someone/or a group of people and creating a real backlash is this type of Link Baiting. Be careful though - it could work against you - make sure you have some good reasons for doing it.
Humour Hooks
Everyone loves to take a break and read something funny. Sarcasm, funny stories or jokes. Just make sure it’s clear that it is humour and not read as the truth.
Tool Hooks
Got something useful that people can download or follow instructions for? Well you’ll get visitors for sure!
Widget Hooks
This is all about creating something visual that has a link back to your site. It has to be something that someone would like though. For example - a cool counter, or a badge of merit.
Ego Hooks
This one is a big risky but can work to your advantage. Big mouth yourself and give yourself rave reviews. Some other bloggers might like it and link to you. Do it wrong though and expect to get some backlash.
Contrary Hooks
Where there is one person putting forward a point of view, there is always someone else putting forward the argument. For example - Someone might have content on why Solar Energy is the Way of the Future, and someone else might put up content on why Solar Energy is NOT the Way of the Future. It’s going to attact some attention for sure.
Conclusion
At this stage it looks like Link Baiting is the best and most effective way to get backlinks - so if you can think of ways to create content using one of these types of hooks - you might be onto some good backlinks - naturally!
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By N2H
