Evidence of rolling PR update

PR7 backlink bumps page within days

[swerve]

I have found an example which seems like strong evidence of the "rolling update" theory - including the idea that backlinks are being taken into account on a rolling basis (or based on a very short cycle).

On one of my pages I have a section that is under construction. There are some links to these pages, but they are not easy for users to find. Googlebot has found many of them however, and indexed them. There are about 40 pages in this section, with titles in the following format:

<Page Title> - <Section Title>

The main page for this section is titled <Section Title>. (btw, "Section title" is a three word phrase)

About a week ago, I received at link to one of the 40 subpages from a PR7 page. (The anchor text for the link did not contain the <page title> nor the <section title>)

Now, a Google search for "Section Title" shows that subpage ranked #8. If anything, I would expect the main page of my "section title" to rank well for that phrase, but #8 is still higher than I would expect. The only thing different about this particular subpage, compared to the other 39 subpages, is the PR7 backlink. The link was made on Aug. 5 - I only noticed the #8 ranking today, but it could have been there for days, I don't know.

Seems to me like good evidence that backlinks (and thus PR) are being taken into account on a rolling basis.

[More Traffic Please]

I have noticed the exact same thing. Prior to the last update of backlinks about a week ago, I kept seeing these sites with no SEO work done on them, not a single inbound link, and very little content suddenly rocket to position #2-#5 for some of my KW phrases. Most of the competitors in my field have backlinks from PR3-PR4 sites. After the update, I found that all the sites had inbound links from the same PR6 page of a site. Since the update, I have noticed a couple of other sites that have come way up in ranking. Sure enough, when I check the PR6 page, they have links there.

[MurphyDog]

I have sites that have no adjusted PR in two months. One was launched on June 1, was in the SERPS within two weeks, has quite a few links from PR7, PR6 and PR4 pages and has not been given a PR above 0 yet though it shows about 100 links.

So, no PR update yet there! However, it doesn't matter that much to me since I am showing high in the SERPs

[More Traffic Please]

I think that's the point MurphyDog. Even though your backlinks are not showing up, and your PR on the toolbar may only be a PR4 lets say, Google on their end knows about your backlinks and is taking your true PR into consideration long before we see what's going on. That is why you already raqnk well.

[the_nerd]

That would mean (and I'm sure it does) that Google is not at all broken.

They just do what old Balthasar Gracian recommended 500 years ago: you should know everything, but not TELL everybody.

Using a little smoke and mirrors probably is the only way to keep the index somewhat free of unrelevant results. If "over-SEOers" could see the result of their work in realtime they'd tune it until they hit #1 - using loads of real time rank checking tools, page ranking tools - you name it.

[More Traffic Please]

The thing I would like to know is if Google has the ability to calculate PR on the fly. If not (and that seems likely) I wonder if they just estimate the PR transfer when they find a new link to your site and then do the iterations at regular time intervals to fine tune a sites true PR.

[sit2510]

>> If not (and that seems likely) I wonder if they just estimate the PR transfer when they find a new link to your site and then do the iterations at regular time intervals to fine tune a sites true PR.

Highly possible...I'm also not sure whether PR transfer is exactly calculated or merely estimated once a new link was crawled, but it surely give effects on ranking in a very short period of time. Since Esmeralda it appears that Google reports on true PR and backlinks would be done at regular time intervals.

For ex. I got new sites with zero-base off-page factor. After seeded set of links were added, it first appeared on page 4. Later on whenever new set of inbound quality links were added, the positive effect can be seen within 5 to 10 days. The report of true PR and backlinks were delayed till update.

[Michael Coley]

I have a new site whose preliminary launch was on 5/10/03 with a more widespread launch on 6/25/03.

The main page's PR jumped from PR0 to PR1 in the 6/03 dance. I've been anxiously awaiting the next dance, as I have links from many different sources now including a Yahoo Directory listing and tons of press mentions.

Wednesday evening (about 12 hours ago), my PR jumped from PR1 to PR4.

Michael