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I just can’t seem to get it right about this whole PageRank update thing. First I thought PageRank was updating, then I noticed it was just some sites dropping in PR, then I thought it was updating again when this blog dropped from a 6 to a 5, but now it seems it could have just been a penalty applied to my blog manually.

Penalized For Selling Links?

Based on the conversations going on, some referencing to my blog as an example to prove the point, it appears that Google could be going around and manually penalizing sites by dropping their visible PageRank and possibly penalizing their search results too, as a punishment for selling text links.

I can’t verify any of this of course, but let’s speculate as if it were true for the sake of the discussion.

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Ok, perhaps my last post about PageRank updating was premature, but now there’s enough signs in the forums that the PageRank update is happening.

Not only are the forums buzzing about it, but it appears this blog has dropped from a 6 to a 5 as well – bummer! Actually I’m noting a drop across the board at nearly all my sites and so far most people seem to be reporting either a drop one place down or no movement at all.

Has anyone enjoyed a PageRank increase this update?

If you read Rich Schefren’s latest free e-book – The Final Chapter (aff) – you will have come across a link he provided to a great tool called Search Status for the Firefox browser.

You can download Search Status here

It’s a neat little Firefox extension that provides you with some handy shortcuts for things like PageRank, AlexaRank, backlinks, keyword density, link reports, whois and a bunch of other search engine marketing related tools.

Rich mentions this tool in his section of the Final Chapter as a resource for conducting competitive intelligence. You can use it to find which sites are linking to competitor sites so you can find out their likely JV partners, affiliates and traffic sources, which is valuable information. Rich had discussed some great points in the e-book about performing research on your competitors and I have to admit he takes it to a new level, I never thought to do some of things he suggests.

Personally I very often use backlink checks and the various tools provided by Search Status when I am evaluating a site I am thinking of buying or monitoring my own sites. Having all the tools available from my browser window makes these jobs just that little bit more efficient.

If you are obsessed with backlinks, PageRank, AlexaRank, and all the other search engine metrics, this tool is a must. Thanks to Rich for bringing it to me attention.

It’s probably just the Google Dance (PageRank) update still going on and if you follow your PageRank I’m sure you have noticed this too – but doesn’t it seem that PageRank is dynamic now rather than static in-between updates?

I notice when I wake up in the morning here in Australia PageRank is lower across the board and then throughout the day if fluctuates. It’s usually at it’s peak when I go to bed.

Could this mean that PageRank is changing based on live data rather than remaining static even though the underlying values it represents are constantly changing? Would this be a good thing?

For the link sellers it would have an impact but I don’t think it would be that drastic. Instead of stating you have a PageRank of X to potential link buyers you say your PageRank fluctuates between X and Y. It would also provide more meaningful statistics as you could tell when your site was rising in Google as the PageRank rises on a more current basis.

I’m fairly certain it will calm down and settle like usual. When Google plays with PageRank, just like when it was offline for nearly a month last year, all kinds of speculation goes on. It shows despite that fact that we shouldn’t pay too much attention to PageRank it really has an impact on us Webmasters. We love to talk about it and we just can’t help but chase that little green bar.