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113 responses to “Webmaster Tools Drops Page Rank”

  1. JeepnDave

    Do my eyes deceive me? A new post on the freshly redesigned Griz site? Looks good by the way. Thanks for driving home the point yet again that it’s all about serps and not pr. Looking forward to your post about your findings on the latest serp restructuring.

  2. Penny

    Google doesn’t want us to sell PR as we have known for a long time so this is a smart move. They should do away with it on the toolbar next so that people are less inclined to buy and sell links.

  3. Penny

    Sorry. I sort of repeated what you said but I was in a hurry to try to get the first comment! Talk about a silly thing to be trying to do!

    Is there going to be a post like I think you mentioned a while ago about where you have been and what you have been up to?

  4. Jim

    Hey there Griz.

    Nice upgrade on the site… looks really good.
    I like the branding magic going on.

    I’ve noticed all kinds of strange things going on with Google over the last few weeks. Sites slipping and rising like a yo yo!

    I’m sure you’ve been watching the MMO niche and lots of others. There is quite the shakeup going on all over.

    Any idea if it’s slowing down and equalizing or is Google as schizophrenic as they appear to be.

    I couldn’t care less about PageRank – been paying attention to your advice, and have been concentrating on building links.

    Lately I’ve found the returns from Google are weird. Listings from search terms being mismatched to posts, posts not being indexed when I would have thought they would.

    Any thoughts?

    In any event, the blog looks fabulous.

    cheers
    Jim

  5. Neena

    I love the new look! What happened to the uglier the better philosophy?

  6. Phil

    I have been waiting for that post that you have been talking about for roughly three months now LOL :) I don’t subscribe to RSSs so I have to check this blog every now and then.

    This PR thing seems to be something that is hard for people to understand. I noticed it a while ago when I ranked a brand new domain #1 (a week after it was indexed) when I was against PR3 sites – I had the keyword as my domain and it seemed to be enough when combined with a couple of ezines, hubs and infobarrels.

    What is your stand on the backlink juice when it comes to high PR sites? I still feel like the serp ranking is more important. If you have a site with pr2 ranking #1 for MMO, linking with an MMO anchor, it would give more juice than a site with pr5 that ranks shit for MMO but ranks highly for widgets – but is not an authority site – using the same anchor.

  7. mariam

    Hi Griz,

    Long time reader, sometime commentator.

    Very sharp site, Griz! But I too was wondering about the whole ugly is better motto. Or are you going for an “authority” site look?

    Question for you though… you know you have a large following of readers and commentators. Why don’t you use who sees ads plugins? Or is your CTR so impressive that you don’t mind lowering it due to readers?

  8. Tucson SEO

    Hey Grizz,

    Some of my sites have been all over the pace this month. Like you, I am just waiting to see how it all pans out in the end.

    I agree completely with you about the relevance of PR. I have some sites that sit at the top of their niche with a big fat 0, while others have PR and are buried in the SERPs. It’s not the PR folks…it’s all about the links :)

  9. Medic

    Griz,

    I realize the PR on my sites means nothing in regards to my rankings. I have had my PR go up on sites and then actually go down in the rankings so I don’t put much stock in PR for ranking purposes.

    My question is: are you better off to focus on getting links from higher ranking sites that appear to have authority versus getting anchored links from higher PR sites.

    I think many have focused on trying to get links from PR 3, 4, and if you are fortunate PR 5 or above sites.

    Thanks,
    Medic

  10. MG

    Griz, so what about the Keyword Academy using PR as the sole factor on how to judge potential competition? I know its aimed at those who are first learning, but wouldn’t it be better to tell people to check number of backlinks with keyword in them?

  11. Costa

    Griz, Very refreshing! You picked a good theme. Really it’s time you turned “pro”.

    I’ve seen many trying to imitate your success with the same theme as you are using, so let me do a little bit of whoring here.

    Anyone who wants Grizz Theme, come and sign up with Elegant Themes in my blog!!

    LOL!!! Hope this comment do not end up in the spam bin.

    1. lissie

      OK Costa I would just like to point out that I was not just whoring this theme but was in fact using it long before a certain bear found it LOL BTW Grizz you might want to hack the css a little to change colour so the links in content show up better

  12. lissie

    Wow there’s a new post here – amazing! And its pretty -does this mean you are starting the paid membership forum? RE the googlewebmaster thing -must admit I have logged onto it for months – does anyone use it still?

  13. Chewie

    Not gonna affect me much. I know there are quite a few people who are still obsessed with the PR though despite what links people see coming into a site.

  14. Denise

    Griz,
    I totally agree with your observations on the lack of improtance of page rank. I have been working harder at getting those anchored backlinks from related sites to my MMO blog. Its a longer road sense now I am working backwards to build the foundation to my sites. Plus after learning how to do my inner linking the right way, I have had to go back and and redo tons of links to rank in the serps for my keywords. One step forward two back!

  15. JL Palmetto

    Wow- big oouu-ahhh subjective response to the blues and the bear-mmo-grizzly graphics! ***Not*** ugly. LOL!

    :-)

  16. JL Palmetto

    Nice! What a wookie!

  17. KC

    Love the new look! Did you by chance get the emails I sent today? If so hope to hear from you.

  18. Fiar | The Planet's Best Political Humor

    Where the hell am I? How did I get here? I was supposed to be on one of Grizzly’s sites.

    There’s no place like home… There’s no place like home… There’s no place like home…

  19. Anonymouse

    darn
    I used to use PR as a “benchmark” before I dove into the linking schemes of sites.

    More work for the lazy man, but I guess that opens up new opportunities for me and not for those still stuck on PR, less competition the better :P

  20. Chris

    Hey Griz,

    I like the look of your new ‘Elegant’ theme!

    So “keyword authority” is what we should be aiming for, right? I’ve been trying to focus on writing really good keyword relevant posts, and have been trying to do a lot better with my linking, especially when it comes to using the proper anchor texts and paying attention to where I get the links from. (I’ve done a really poor job with this from the get-go, sad to say)

    I’m now starting to understand that when you get keyword anchored text links they should come from sites or pages that relate to your content. You can get good pagerank juice from higher pagerank sites and pages NOT related to your content, but if the page you are getting links from is NOT related to your keyphrase then you will not gain much in the way of “keyword authority”, and thus you will not move up on the search engines, even though you may have good pagerank. It all has to match up to be truly effective and that is what you have demonstrated over and over again.

    That is why an “authority site” that has been optimized with the same or nearly the same keywords as yours, and is viewed by the search engines as having keyword authority, can really fire up your keyword authority when you get a properly optimized keyword anchored text from them.

    I hope I’m thinking on the right path now!? One of these days I’ll get it all together. haha.

    Chris

  21. Lin

    Woah! A pretty site for Griz? I’m shocked! Shocked I say! :)

    Seriously though.., looks pretty snazzy there Big Bear. It’ll be interesting to hear about how the G test works out for ya since adding such pretty colors and graphics. You’re well on your way now to become just like Problogger! ;)

    I understand about not paying attention to PR rank and such, but to focus on getting keyword backlinks from authority sites. Care to drop a few site names that work well? CNN? Wiki? ______??

  22. Norm

    Very interested in hearing how the pretty vs. ugly experiment turns out.

    A toast to Larry Page, er, Larry Page gets toasted.

  23. Trent Brownrigg

    OMG a new post and a new theme! What the hell has gotten into you Griz? LOL. I would say I missed ya but since you have been posting on MMOFB I guess that wouldn’t make any sense. Oh and yeah it’s about time they drop PR from webmaster tools. Dropping it altogether would be sweet but I agree that won’t happen.

  24. WordVixen

    Looove the shade of blue in the background.

    Plus, I really hope that they don’t totally trash PR. Before I got into internet marketing I made most of my online income from selling links and posts with links on my personal blog. I still do when I’m strapped for cash and need it quick. Having decent PR is what gets me a decent pay check when I do it!

  25. sherwin_828

    Holy crap. I thought I went to the wrong blog or some A-lister just hacked into your account or something! hehe

    I have a PR 4 that ranks nowhere. I have a PR 1 dominating a small niche and making me 1000 times more than the PR 4.

    Congrats on the new look, Griz. and Thanks a lot for everything!!! :)

  26. Scooter

    Griz:

    NICE WP Theme! I know… I don’t like change too much either, but there are exceptions — especially when conducting… oh, let’s call them experiments?
    Screw the PR! When a person gets all hung up on PR and their site(s) attaining PR, better judgment may become impaired and the quality of content and linking may be compromised.
    As mentioned several times in these comments, getting keyword anchored back links from sites with trust authority provide the best results.
    Now as for the matter of Webmaster Tools Drops Page Rank, I hope this turns the light bulb on for the “unbelievers”? If not, oh well! That’s their problem…
    BTW: Another noteworthy observation/change in the Google Webmaster Dashboard. Did you notice the “Labs” tab? It provides a “Fetch as Googlebot” and “Malware details” option for any given URL… Hmmmmm
    Be good!

    ~Scooter Out

  27. Scooter

    BTW: How do I get a pic/avatar in the profile post box?

  28. Tracey

    Hey Griz,

    I already usually ignore PR for the most part anyway simply because I have no idea how it’s worked out or what it’s actual purpose is other than to brag to your buddy about the size of your (um) webpage.

    See … sometimes it pays to be untechie.

    And I used to think that while it didn’t actually help your own rankings, getting a link from a high pr page was better than getting a link from a low one.

    Of course I know better now.

    In fact sometimes it surprises me when I rank high for a competitive keyword with just a few anchored links from a handful of other sites (some of my own, some article directories, some web 2.0 sites).

    Anyway, I don’t have a question, just wanted to say hi.

    Your ‘other’ aussie friend.

    Tracey ;)

  29. PaulB

    Hi Griz, on the one hand i agree that PR value is way overstated. However when you aquire/swap the number of links that i do you often dont have the time to do an indepth analysis of the site. Check the site is indexed, whats the PR? Next!

    Thanks P

  30. hauntedgold

    what is Keyword Authority? backlink from authority site with anchor keyword on same niche..sorry..noobie here

    1. Scooter

      @hauntedgold:

      The term “authority site” is a connotation for a sites trust rank in the search engines. Essentially it is a link analysis technique used for semi-automatically separating useful web pages from spam. You can discern whether a site has trust rank by doing a keyword search in the search engines and looking at the search engine page results.(SERPS)
      Looking at the search results page, look below each link. If you see a little box with a “+” in it, and after that box it states: “Show more results for… [the specific URL you are looking at] then that specific web site or blog has trust rank.
      Example: Google “Liss Sowerbutts” ["Lissie" from above comments] and you will see this little box as I described. What this means is that the URL lissowerbutts.com has attained “trust rank” with the Google search engine.
      As such, whenever possible it is very beneficial if you can attain back links from sites that have attained the trust rank status.

      ~Scooter

  31. Brawnydt

    Wow, I no longer want to gouge my eyes out as I look at this blog. Nice improvement! :D

    I still haven’t updated the “SEO For Firefox” toolbar that displays the page rank to the new one that displays “mozrank” and “moztrust” instead, but I’m thinking I’ll do that soon to experiment if those metrics actually mean anything at all.

    Have you played with that recently?

  32. dean bennett

    New at online marketing and your blog really helps! – Thank you!

  33. Agrande

    Nice theme Griz,
    I saw your new post in my reader but when I showed up to read it I thought I must be in the wrong spot. It just looks so snappy and touchy, feely.LOL.
    Keyword anchored post titles and links are beating PR5 and PR6 on my end. I’m glad I listen to the real SEO Guru.
    Thanks

  34. Make Money Planning a Wedding

    I’m gonna take complete credit for inspiring the pretty theme! Admit it, it was my pretty theme that made you make a pretty theme =D!

    Question about anchored links..does the whole site have to be related or just the page you’re linked from? IE does my post on making money wedding planning give you and court any link juice when the basic site is about wedding planning and only that post is about making money?

  35. Allyn

    Hey Griz,
    Yes, I agree that PR is nothing more than an indicator of your site’s authority but does nothing to improve rankings. I think a lot of people have trouble separating “authority” from “search engine placement by keyword.”
    Anyway, I like this theme from Elegant. I use this one as a static for lead generation sites, works well with just very little content and either an email submit form or a 1-800 number. This theme with just a few hundred words of content can rank very well for KW terms, thus proving the point of your other post on your make money online site about SEO and links.
    AL

    1. Mike

      @Allyn You got #1 thru #5 with 2 authority listings for “make money online griz”, ahead of Griz himself. Cool!

  36. Epo

    Hi Grizz,

    Sorry, this is kind of noob question. Let me steal some of your hidden aces :lol: What is an authority site & how do you identify/determine an authority website? Is there any parameters/metrics/indicators that we can use to find/know them?

    I think you already mention them somewhere in your post from one of your blogs, but I can’t remember it clearly and its explanation is too general I guess.

    Best Regards,
    Epo
    (your long time silent reader)

  37. Arshad

    “The toolbar is their Brand and the home office knows that removing the PR from the toolbar will lead people to remove the toolbar which is removing Google from a lot of browser” …

    so the day chrome takes majority of the browser market,i think toolbar is going to the coffin.what do you say Grizz?And i am very surprised by the looks of this blog?It is amazing.I wish this blog was as ugly as your other MMO blogger blog ;)

    cheers

  38. VicWWW

    Hi Griz – I actually have a question. Do comments count at all in helping sites move up the SERPS ? Like if you get a pile of comments with your keyword in them – does G count the comments ?

  39. cellulean

    Hey Grizzly,

    Great to see you have a new site here man. Will you get this on the first page of G for “Make money online” as well?

    I love every post you make man. You are down to earth and give it as it is. I must tell you I have a few sites ranking well and I learned most of what i now know from you over at http://makemoneyforbeginners.blogspot.com/

  40. ariston|massive free traffic

    hi Griz,
    So, PR is not that really important after all. And the new trends are cool template, new branding and more backlinks… got it!

    Danng, now I need to change my ugly template… lol

    btw, I <3 the colour of this site… :)

  41. Carlos

    I still don’t see the little + sign that you all are talking about. When I enter “make money online, griz” I don’t even see the “Show more results from makemoneyforbeginners.blogspot.com”.

    Where exactly is this trust rank indicator?

    I don’t see it using Chromium and Firefox.

    Carlos

  42. Forget Google Pagerank | EZ Money

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  43. Jason

    Hey Grizzly man I love your website its very informative you did a great job putting it together. In regards to Google page-rank I think it is pretty important still, but I agree you shouldn’t waste all your time trying to build backlinks. I think the main portion of your time should be spent on adding quality content for your Blog, or website. If you do the backlinks will fall into place. Great post!

  44. latest phones

    hi Griz,

    Hey I was wondering, for Blogspot blogger, is it a bad thing to submit to webmaster-tools.

    Anyway , I learned a hell of a lot from you. Thank you for all that, really I meant it – sorry about the name (you’ll know)

  45. CleaningPro

    I dont think PR is of huge imprtance when it comes to serps. I mean i have out ranked sites with higher pr and sites with lower or no pr have beaten me! I think pr is only a good indicator for doing link exchanges. Jason

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