Categories
Domaining Promotion & SEO

Should PageRank matter to domainers?

There was a time when webmasters & domainers were going crazy about PageRank. Everyone was trying to get a high PR ranking for their sites n pages by doing all sorts of ‘SEO and promotion. Only a few months later and PageRank isn’t as sought-after as it once was. Some people believe its useless – but they shouldn’t knock it.

A bit about PageRank

PageRank (PR) is a Google tool that measures the important of a web page. It uses a number of criteria such as quality of page content, ‘keywords, ‘backlinks, value of incoming links – so on and so forth… In the past having a higher PR meant getting better search engine rankings, thus more traffic. However, this isn’t entirely the case any more.

How people angered the big “G”

You see, people started to abuse the PR system (plus I don’t think it was that accurate anyway), there were ways in which to “trick” Google into getting a higher PR. Well, it didn’t take the big G (thats Google by the way) long to catch on and change its tactics.

Google fights back

Quite recently a lot of people noticed big changes in their PageRank’s for websites. Some went up, others went down. This was because Google made the changes.

Google has changed the way it measures the importance of a page and also how PR is shown to the public.

Domainers overlook PageRank!

Since all this has happened a lot of domainers have started to overlook the PageRank value when it comes to buying / selling domain names. In the past a buyer would pay a lot more if a domain name had PR value, even a PR1 to PR3 value was advertised as one of the main selling points.

I’ve noticed this is no longer the case. Don’t me wrong many people still pay more for a higher PR domain name but its not a major buying/selling point, especially if the domain in question has no keyword value.

A high PR domain in the past meant it most likely had good traffic. This was the first thing that increased the value of a domain name. You could buy a high PR domain, have instant traffic and get good search placement despite having a complete new site/content.

So whats changed?

It doesn’t take google long to work out if a domain has changed hands… plus if the content changes or in most cases of domain trading – there is NO content (eg. a picked up expired domain)… then the usefulness of PR is no longer of much value.

Most PR domains are picked up from expired domains lists – but the problem is, while that domain was in the expiring/delete cycle (for about 40 days plus!) it lost a lot of value in Googles eyes.  During the delete cycle the domain no longer points to any sites/content- when Google sends its spiders to look at the site – it finds nothing and so it reduces in PR value. Over 40 days it loses a lot of value. All this casuses the PageRank to go down by the time the next update for PR comes around (PR updates happen around every 3 months apparently).

The traffic will slowly die down once Google starts to de-index the pages. And eventually it will loose all the back-links… unless the new owner developers a similar site with decent content again.

I thought you said “PR still matters”

Yes, I did… don’t worry I’m coming to that.

PageRank still matters, especially when the domain is being sold (or targetted) to end-users. It matters more for endusers than it does for resellers. So as a seller, having a good PR domain will still help you get a better sale.

Tell me how!!!

Buyers (endusers) know that if a domain name had PR then it means it was indexed by Google. This saves them time in comparison to trying to get a brand new no PR domain indexed. Provided the buyer already has plans for the domain, he would fill it with content and Google will give the site good traffic again.

Another point is to do with text-links. If the buyer was to sell text links on the site then he/she could deman a slightly higher price for those links based on the PR. And thats becuase for many non-domains/developers – PR still matters. The average person who buys advertising (such as text links) still sees value in PR.

So… there you have it!

Don’t quote me on any of this… I could be a bit off in terms of the technical workings of PR etc. But this is just to give a basic idea and thoughts based what I observed in the domianing industry.

Do tell me what you think… leave a comment below!

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Categories
Promotion & SEO

Does Google like your site?

Find out what Google thinks of your website. Learn why its important for Google to like your site. In this article I show you how to check your ‘backlinks’, ‘indexed pages’, ‘page rank’ and even what Google has of your site in its ‘Cache’!

What Google thinks of your site really does matter if you want to succeed online. This is because Google, with over 60% of the U.S. search engine market; has become the most dominant ‘search engine’ online. How your site ranks within this (and other) search engines can have a huge impact on how much ‘traffic’ your site gets.

If you’re a ‘webmaster’ (web designer), you probably already know how vital Google is to the success of your site, especially if you rely upon organic keyword rankings for your traffic. This free organic traffic from Google is highly desired by webmasters because it is extremely targeted and delivers high conversion rates.

More traffic usually means more ‘leads’ and more leads equals more sales.

Even if you’re not selling a product, but rely on any kind of revenue generating through your site, be it from ‘Google Adsense’ or affiliate links or something else – traffic matters! The more visitors you get, the higher the chances of these visitors clicking on paid adverts (such as Adsense) and the more clicks you get, the more money you make!

In fact, even if you’re site is non-profit based, you would still want more people coming to it so that they can see your message or whatever it is that you have on your site.


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If you’re NOT interested in getting more traffic or having people see your site – then you might want to ask yourself  WHY you’ve made a web site in the first place! If you don’t want to share – then maybe its best to keep your content on your own computer rather than releasing it online!

Anyway…

As a webmaster myself, I’m always trying to get the highest rankings possible. Its important for me (same applies for most webmasters) to be aware of how Google views my site. It can be a headache trying to understand Google – but if you get the basics then eventually the rest will fall into place.

The more knowledge you gain about Google in terms of how its viewing your site, the better you will be equiped to tackle any obstacles and challenges that come your way. Getting a good ranking in Google would also mean you get good rankings on other search engines too. Not the same rankings, but similar.

How Google shows its love & hate through SERPs

Some webmasters would argue with this statement, but I think the best way to judge Google’s love for your site is via the SERPs (search engine results pages)! If your site/pages are ranked in the first page then it means Google likes your site – it thinks its important for the keywords that were used in that search.

However, the tricky part is – what keywords are you using to search with? Would they be the same keywords used by millions of other regular people?

Anyway, there are other ways to find out how Google is viewing your website/content. The webmaster tools below will give you a better picture of what the big Goog thinks about your site.

Check your content & Keywords

Googles Keyword Tool – used by advertisers who use Adwords, can also be used to find out what Google thinks of your pages. It gives you a rough idea of what Google thinks your pages are about by displaying the keywords it picks up.

Googles Keyword Analysis Tool – Click here

  • Type in your URL you want to check
  • Tick off website content

You will then get a listing of the major keywords Google has for your content for that particular url. If your targeted keyword or keywords are not listed, then you’re doing something wrong – it means you’ll have some re-writing to do on that particular page in order to ensure the main keywords are picked up.

Check Your Backlinks in Google

If you want to see how many ‘backlinks’ your site has in Google.com then just follow these simple instructions…

  1. Open your web browser
  2. Go to Google.com
  3. In the search box type in:

link:yourURL

eg. link:www.yourdomain.com

This will show you the number of backlinks to your website in Google.

Check Your Backlinks in Yahoo!

Google doesn’t always give you all the existing backlinks – it gives some, but doesn’t always show all. Many webmasters use Yahoo! as well as Google to find more accurate numbers. Just follow these simple steps…

  1. Open your web browser
  2. Go to Yahoo.com
  3. In the search box type in:

linkdomain:yourURL

eg. linkdomain:www.yourdomain.com

This will show you the number of backlinks to your website in Yahoo.

Check Your PageRank in Google

‘PageRank’, also known as PR was created by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. It is supposed to be the heart of Google’s ranking system; each link is considered a “vote” for your page and the higher the number of “votes” you have, the higher the PR your page receives.

PageRank Tool – Click here

  • Type in your URL you want to check
  • Press enter! Simple.

‘PageRank’ is a bit of sticky issue. Google uses “smoke and mirrors” to conceal your true PageRank in order to cut out abuse and manipulation of their results. However, many experts still believe that the PageRank still counts – whereas some say it doesn’t.

Check how your site in Googles Cache

Using Googles cache, you can find out when your site was last retrieved (if ever). I’m not sure how important this will prove, but its a nifty little thing to try…

  1. Open your web browser
  2. Go to Google.com
  3. In the search box type in:

cache:yourURL

eg. cache:www.yourdomain.com

Thats all for now…

So there you have it, a nice little run down of how to find out if Google likes your site or not. Hope you find these tools helpful – but try not to get too obsessed with the PageRank tool. Although it helps to have a high PageRank, it doesn’t necesarrily mean it will bring you traffic.

The most important thing is the keywords and how you rank in the SERPs.

Make sure you check out the related contents below – you’ll find some more info and more detailed tips on how to make use of these tools, as well as how to improve your websites rankings in Google.

Leave a comment – tell me what you think.

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