No loss in page rank but directory drop

[lazyz]

One of my domains is showing a page rank 5 on the Google Tool Bar and coming up good in the serps but doesn't show any page rank in the google directory. It dropped... I'm still getting great traffic from Google so it really doesn't matter but what's up?

[keyplyr]

The directory seems to shift around a bit shortly after each update. Occasionally, I see the green bar gone for a short period, then it becomes green again.

My site dropped from #1 to #2 in the directory while maintaining it's PR6. It even gained linkage, but a new site nudged in above mine that is owned by a huge institution, so it inherited large rank from the rest of the site.

Hasn't decreased my hits though. I actually think anywhere in the top 5 is about the same for some SERPs like Google. I know that when I search for pages, I look at the first set of listings, reading the description/page-snip before I choose which link to open. Although I'm sure there are many who automatically click the top listing.

[europeforvisitors]

>>I actually think anywhere in the top 5 is about the same for some SERPs like Google.<<

Or even the top 10 or 20, if a keyword or keyphrase has several meanings. For example, a user searching on "Rome" will skip past the Rome, Italy listings if he's interested in pages about Rome, New York.

[Brett_Tabke]

lazyz, is the page on a cgi redirect or something else that makes it uncrawlable? I've got quite a few pages with no rank in the Directory. A couple with 100+ quality links. It seems to have to do with the indexability of the page.

And the page _does_ have pr in the toolbar?

[lazyz]

No redirect and no CGI... Very simple html around 8Kb. The page is showing a PR5 on the tool bar and has been that way for both the last and the new index. In this new index, I gained 79 new in-bound links... Seems odd that I would drop in the directory.

[Brett_Tabke]

Was the category recently switched around?

(I don't believe they updated the cat structure in 60 days - new cats from midmay are not reflected in the current directory.google.com).