December update gives new site PR4 from PR0 last month

But showing no backlinks and ranked very low - how can this be?

[soccer_star]

Apologies if this question is posted by a bemused newbie every month, but here goes.

I have worked tirelessy adding about 50 links to my site over the last month and was delighted when my site went from PR0 and not being in the index to PR4 and definitely in (on www2 and www3) on New Year's Day :)

But when I checked backlinks there were none at all, even though I know I have many PR4s and above which all seem to have held their PR during this dance. I must have some reasonably good ones to get a PR4 surely! I checked on alltheweb too and had 27 links (although it's down to 3 today, confusingly) - so why isn't Google showing them?

I wouldn't be so worried but I am very low for my main keyword-keyword (page 32 of a very competitive 900,000 results) despite following all the optimization tips on this site. Am I being too optimistic hoping for a high SERP in only my first month in the index? Will it improve as my new site 'settles' into the index or am I destined to languish on page 32 until Google finds my links (maybe in the next crawl in the next few days)?

Thanks for making it to the end of my rambling post, any thoughts/experiences much appreciated :)

[Susanne]

You need to wait a bit longer until Google finds all those links. Give it at least another month. But remember, they won't show you all of them even if they are on pages with PR of 4.
So this is the first month for your whole site in the index? Give it some more time, wait until Google has found all your pages. Meanwhile, keep on adding good quality content. And continue working on linkpop. Good luck and happy new year!

[soccer_star]

Thanks Susanne, Happy New Year to you too :)

It is indeed my first time in the index, I was only in last month when freshbot found me - looking forward to some 'permanency' this month ;)

Lots of my links have keyword-keyword in the anchor text. If and when Google finds these links will that improve my SERP positions or just my PR? The leaders in my SERP have similar on-page optimisation (title, keywords, alt tags etc) but loads more links so I'm hoping if Google finds them this month I'll shoot up.

[gsmitchell]

soccer_star,

You need to give G! a little time to discover all of your links. And like Susanne mentions, continue adding quality content and quality links.
Good Luck

[JonB]

is the update still not settled for checking pr values? Until now i was using toolbarqueries.google.com and my site had pr 2, after i remoived this and i check from "normal" google i get pr 4.so is anyone already seeing new pr values?

[tigger]

I don’t think you will see the PR settling down till early next week

[soccer_star]

Thanks gsmitchell.

I'm still confused about Google 'finding' links though. I understand it may have missed some as it's only my first month and hopefully next month it'll find a few more. But seeing as it's virtually impossible to spider EVERY link on the web, is it possible some of the links Googlebot found this month may be missed off next month?

ie are links Google has discovered ALWAYS going to be counted until the links are removed, or might Google drop them if Googlebot happens not to spider them next month? This seems unfair if it's the case as a site will never get the full PR it deserves if Google can't find all its links (and I may also stay on page 32 for eternity!)

[Susanne]

ie are links Google has discovered ALWAYS going to be counted until the links are removed, or might Google drop them if Googlebot happens not to spider them next month?

I doubt Google would check every single link to every single site in its index, every single update. And I have seen examples of broken incoming links that still counted towards linkpop in Google. I would guess Google only checks the links every now and then.
If the page where your link is, is also indexed in Google, then all you need is patience. It will definitely be found.

Make sure also to have a clean internal navigation system on your site because internal links also count towards linkpop. The ultimate way (of course depending on what type and size of site you have) is to be able to reach all pages from all pages.