Dropped to PR0 but site is still ranking

[baltozar]

i have a site that ranks well for a few terms it had a pr of 3. the pr has dropped to 0 for twon and a half months now but the site is still ranking. any guesses?

[toplisek]

Sorry I can not guess as your post can not be read. Can you be more specific. Maybe I can help

[baltozar]

my site had a page rank of 3 and the pagerank has drop[ped to 0 but it still ranks welll . any guesses as to why the page rank dropped ?

[Pibs]

Nope, but if it helps I know someone in the exact same situation, PR3 to PR0 but the same amount of traffic.

Just goes to show that pagerank doesn't mean much.

My understanding is that the pagerank system goes in 10, ie to be a PR1 you need 1-10 incoming links, PR2 you need 11-100, PR3 101-1000 etc.

That may be completely wrong, just something I read somewhere. On that basis his site should be a PR2, not 3, but like I say it recently went to 0.

Made no difference to the ranking or traffic whatsover.

P.

[tedster]

A couple of points seem like they might help understanding here:

1. The Page Rank system depends on more than just the number of backlinks. It depends on the PR of the page that is linking as well as how many links are on that page. See Google PR - PageRank FAQs [webmasterworld.com].

2. There is PR that you see on the toolbar (zero to 10) and then there is REAL PR that is calculated tpo many decimal places. you never see that - it is Google's private data. The toolbar is just a simplified display, and a rough estimate. Again, see the discussion above, as well as others you can find either through our Site Search [webmasterworld.com] or in the Hot Topics area [webmasterworld.com], which is always pinned to the top of this forum's index page.

3. There is PR0 with a white toolbar - that means between 0 and 1 somewhere. Then there is "PR0" with a gray toolbar - and that essentially means "no data". Many people are seeing pages fall to a gray toolbar but still get rankings and traffic. Google has decided See The Grey Bar PR0 Phenomenon [webmasterworld.com]

[baltozar]

but i rank really well for my targeted terms. it does highlight a seperation of PR and ranking factors, isnt it?

[drall]

I have several small side project sites that are pr 0 and take on fortune 100 companies for the top three slots.

My advice is to ignore toolbar pr and focus on quality links.

[santapaws]

but it feels good when you see plenty of green!
maybe it should be called the feel good toolbar?

[toplisek]

Notice also this:
If you use #*$!o links or other not allowed features, it will drop you to 0 and also ranking.
Main point is content. There are more than 10 editors that make your site checked. If they feel content as bad you will have less PR. Of course quality of links also count.

[caribguy]

Two new sites of mine now have TBPR 5, one 6 months and one 12 months old. I couldn't give two bits. Much rather see "plenty of green" in my wallet.

[toplisek]

Sorry:
what do you mean by couldn't give two bits?

[Shaddows]

That would be a clean way of saying "could not care less" while implying that a more emphatic phrase would be preferred.

Nice score for a 6 month site. (Thats another thing its good for- keeping score)

[caribguy]

I realize I wasn't very helpful there, let me try again.

Keep in mind Google's definition of pagerank, as tedster pointed out. The TBPR, what you see in the toolbar is a) a snapshot that is only updated a few times a year, and b) an approximation of each page's "real" rank around the time the number was determined.

As others have already mentioned: a well STRUCTURED site layout, with UNIQUE and QUALITY content, that results in NATURAL (and again QUALITY) inbound links are factors that influence your ranking. These are the types of factors that G uses to calculate the position where you'll show up in the results for a particular keyword. When you create a site with content that is helpful to your visitors and that is well-organized and easy to navigate you'll end up having have a much better chance to rank at the top of search results.

If traffic is steady and you're still ranking well for your chosen keywords, you're most likely already doing some of the above.

Also, don't forget to put yourself in the shoes of someone who lands on your site: why are they visiting, will your site help them to accomplish their task? If you can say yes to that, TBPR instantly becomes meaningless...

ronburk just wrote a wonderful post that explains how to look at your own site from a visitor's perspective: Log walking your way to $$$ [webmasterworld.com]

[baltozar]

thanks for the comments people.