Kangarooing in Google

How to lock in a sweet PR spot?

[Vince]

In our specific search term there are two sites that have been locked into the PR1 and 2 spots for over 6 months. Most PR3+ sites move around on a regular basis (our site jumps between PR8-30 weekly). Any specific reasons why some sites are firmly locked while others jump around so much? Thanks

[synergy]

Google is very unstable right now.

[TheDave]

Hi Vince, Welcome to WebmasterWorld :)

When you are talking about PR, I think you may be talking about the position of the site in the Search Engine Result Page (SERP).

When we talk about PR here, we are talking about Page Rank, the value between 0-10 that google assigns to every page. You can view the PR for your pages with the google toolbar.

[t2dman]

When you are new to a search phrase, Google is still finding links to you using those phrases, and still calculating PR (1-10) for those sites. In less competitive phrases, sites hold their SERP's rather precariously. When you have been in a search phrase for some time, especially for a competitive phrase, you are able to retain your SERP position far more reliably as Google knows the PR and text links. New players are only able to get in if they have every factor right, and are less likely to have as many inbound links found as an established site. In a less competitive area, and lower on the SERP's, just one high ranking inbound link can be more than another on the SERP's. Hence different results on the SERP's.