Google PR -- Next Update?

[lgood123]

Hello everyone. I'm a newbie to the forum and this is probably an old question, but it seems that google has not done a pr update in at least 2 months. Is this correct and does anybody know what is going on? Is there about to be a major change in how google calculates pr as well as the frequency?

[walkman]

the mother of all deep crawls is going on my site. just today, so far 1/4 of the pages have been indexed. Close to 1500 pages.

[internetheaven]

Google has been adding around 1000 pages a day from one of my larger sites, that's been over the past 30 days so I don't think that will be an indication of an impending update.

Recent Google updates have been very minimal, I wouldn't be surprised if one happened and we didn't even notice it. My pages have been climbing up the results on a weekly basis, if there is no update I'm not really bothered because it seems as though Google is performing a rolling update rather than one big one.

But yes there are no fresh dates here in the UK either so this normally indicates something is about to happen ....

[bears5122]

The PR update delay has been real strange. Not really sure what Google is thinking in their strategy here.

For one, PR is really the only reason half the people have the Google toolbar. To be honest, Google's SERPs are so bad these days that I have no use for it except something cluttering up my screen.

PageRank seems like the perfect marketing tool for the toolbar and ultimately more searches being done. Seems like Google is more concerned about a few SEOs than the quality of their SERPs and marketing of their toolbar.

Not sure their marketing tactic here, but I guess I shouldn't expect much from a business run by some engineers.

[Freedom]

To repeat, PR was updated in the directory - but that's not helpfull to sites not in the directory - or are still waiting to get into the directory. (like me).

Looking at quite a numner of sitess, there was a major PageRank drop across the board in the directory.

I'd like to see a Search Engine Watch article on this right about now.

[VigoZ]

i think than the page rank on the directory update is at the least two months old from now... i have some sites in the directory.. and all value of all sites are like two months ago..

i'm the only one?

[siteseo]

That's nothing. I put up a site 8 weeks ago that now has over 3,290 inbound links, and still no PR to speak of. It's just a waiting game...

[ljgsites]

Come on Google...let's see the green tonight!

[Freedom]

3,290 links in 8 weeks? I probably got one your emails.

[steveb]

With the total disappearance of fresh tags and older master caches showing up, if we don't see a PR update before fresh tags reappear in the next hours/days, I suppose we can expect that it will be another month, and a cryptic GG comment of awhile ago about quartly updates is coming to pass.

If so, not satisfied with the humiliating backlink results, Google will go a step further and begins offering up three month old data instead of attempting to provide quality current information.

[Rogi]

Something's gotta be happening... can't see any fresh tags. I even googled 'google' & no fresh tags.

[steveb]

Heh, <puts on rose colored glasses>, maybe what we will see soon is Google dumping the idiotic backlink garbage and update their backlinks and PR accurately and sensibly like a non-dingbat search engine.

[bears5122]

You seriously start to wonder how Google got to where it is. I mean 2nd and 3rd tier engines provide better results and content than Google.

[steveb]

Google is where it is because it has provided the best results by far for a few years. Their results generally are on topic, which perhaps this thread can stay.

Fresh tags are back, so so much for that.

It's like Groundhog Day, six more weeks till a PR update.

[bears5122]

I'm sorry, I don't think Google's results are good these days. I would take a few search engines over them.

[shanbr]

I saw it going downhill from last summer, then they did another one in januarry that was even worse.

Now, half the sites I liked as a viewer, I can't even find anymore since this last update.

I was mad as a person who lost so many sites in the update, but now I am even more upset because I can't find the stuff I want.

I keep getting repeats when I search, I get homepages, the page that I need (let's say reebok shoes) but then a bunch of other listings about every 3 from pages on their site that don't have reebok shoes, just a link to that section.

Where did all the sites go?

I have been using yahoo for searching since the past two weeks and yes, I even clicked on their paid ads and bought something.

Google doesn't realize that half the customers they have that look through stuff for their private lives are also those who they just ****** off.

My 2 cents.

[ogletree]

Google does well in some areas and bad in some. G still has the freshest content. Are you people talking about 3 or 4 word phrase or some real generic 2 word phrase. No se is going to be accurate for some real generic phrase. It is not googles fault that most sites are designed so poorly that it is impossible to show it in the SERPS. How is G supposed to rank sites when all the big sites have the url as there title on every page and contain almost all flash animation. G does a great job. If all you can find is spam then you need to refine your search. SPAM sites only do well when the sites that are supposed to be there have no clue about web design. As long as the corp. sector think of the web as an extension of TV commercials they will not go anywhere and those of us that understand it will prosper. I rank in the top 5 for a lot of terms with spam sites but in every case there is an authority site or 2 that are number one. The only time we hear complaints here is when some little company that has no clue about SEO can't rank well for their term. They think they can just throw up a site and be number 2 right under the main authority site for that topic. If it were that easy then you would be fighting more spam than you could imagine. It is not hard to get there you just have to know what you are doing.

[bears5122]

Just wait till Christmas shopping season and the timely "update" that knocks every commercial site off the radar.

[willybfriendly]

Well said Ogletree. Too many of us forget the basics. Traffic comes from many sources, and many search terms. Far better to rank well for a number of obscure traffic producing terms than to have all of one's eggs in the basket of one big term. If there has been any single "most" important lesson I have learned on these boards, that is it. One can not survive an algo shift if all the traffic is coming from one term!

The amazing thing is that by working on those non-competitive terms, the competitive one's come more and more into reach. Time, work and patience...

There have been a couple of algo shifts in Google over the past year that resulted in really poor SERPs. The areas I frequent are not too bad right now. Google usually meets my needs. Yahoo is a poor second in my experience. Jeeves sucks air. Gigablast is probably the best competition to G in terms of quality, but the DB is too small.

As far as PR, Opera has become my browser of choice. I usually only fire up IE to check PR when I read here that there have been changes. Those who crave PR are at least a year behind the curve from where I sit.

<disclamer>I operate in an only moderately competitive field. That said, I am surprised to see my sites come up top 5 for some terms that return 1.5 million + results - terms I never tried for and that do nothing for me. Hmmmm, how can I monetize those?</disclamer>

WBF

[bears5122]

Good post except I think Jeeves provides good results. Perhaps we are just looking in different areas though. In the areas I look, Google has some of the worst results I've ever seen. I mean for one of the most competitive terms I search for a mapquest page ranks 2nd.

[powerofeyes]

I think this thread is starting to turn into a Google bashing thread, I think we are discussing about a Lack of toolbar pagerank update here,

Instead of saying how google reached this spot, we can speculate how so many people use google Toolbar, I bet more than 70% of Google Toolbar users are using it for the pagerank display in it, Google's toolbar is nothing special than any other toolbar without the pagerank display on it,

i personally spread the word about pagerank display and google toolbar to more than 1000 people( all software people and software training institute guys ), Most of them were obsessed on it and started using just by my word, Almost 800 google toolbars were installed because of me,

Now I told the same people pagerank display is no more a priority for google and they haven't updated it for more than 2 months, Now almost 500 google toolbar's were removed, Nobody were interested in other features since they are not SEOs or webmasters, They are just normal users they like to see the pagerank of different sites, Now without Pagerank updating they hate the toolbar sticking on their IE window, They seem to prefer Yahoo companion toolbar more now,

Dont know what the motive of google is, Google toolbar users are the same as google users, Most of them came through word of mouth, I bet there are 1000s of Non SEOs/site owners/webmasters toolbar users who are ready to remove their toolbar if they come to know there are no more toolbar pagerank updates,

Way to go google,

[bears5122]

Power, I think you are 100% correct. It seems like an incredibly dumb marketing move. Why would you do anything to take away toolbars on the market? Hell, I'd update the thing daily if it meant people kept using their toolbar. I'm sure those who have the toolbars use the search more often. Those who search more often click on more ads. More clicked ads mean more money.

It's hard to bash Google as I liked them a couple years ago when they were being innovative and such. Now they seem very complacent.

There biggest problem will come when MSN goes after the search market. Google is run by engineers. MSN is run by ruthless business people. Ruthless business people win out in the end, just ask Netscape.

[tristo]

That's an interesting thought. I've heard it said that the Google tool bar with PR has lost them a lot of processing time by stiring up all the wanna be SEO's out there, who all go out and buy bulk submission and ranking checking software and SPAM google with billions of queries.

Perhaps Google has had enough.... maybe the update's been done but the tool bar has been disabled.

[ogletree]

I never really used the toolbar in IE. I switched to firefox a month ago and I use the G toolbar in FF all the time now. I have no idea why.

[willybfriendly]

Back around Florida there was talk of sites disappearing and caches that were months old. Then there came the "continuous update" - the end of the dance. Now there is the "sandbox".

I sometimes wonder (no evidence) if we aren't seeing a 2 month old DB that is updated behind the scenes with a few new sites rolled in here and there. Maybe the dance never went away, but was just moved to a private club.

Look at all the posts in the forums from folks that get good initial rankings only to diappear for a couple of months. How many new sites are staying at the top of the SERPs?

How many of us have the patience to do good old fashioned SEO and then wait 2-4 months to see if it worked?

There was a time when we could make changes and wait no more than a month to see the results. We could manipulate the SERPs with dynamically generated "fresh" content and see it in days, or even hours.

Now I am afraid to make significant changes to well ranking pages for fear that in a couple of months they will drop off the face of the earth. My sites may expand, but existing pages that do well see precious few changes.

None of the above is based on any serious research. Simple musings...

WBF

[MLHmptn]

I do believe there is some new SERPS hitting very shortly....www3 shows different serps than www2 or www at the moment. Don't know if this is just small changes or big changes but a few of my listings are jumping in the serps 2-5 pages up so far. How is everyone else faring on www2+3 vs. www atm? Please confirm the changes!

MLHmptn

[nippi]

this is not an update.
minor differences

[DslLmi]

I do see lots of changes in the SERP's Google is dancing... Lets see what will happen it is done.... And if it is going to update PR on the toolbar!

[phantombookman]

The SERPS in my area have been jumping about for a month or so now. Some of my sites can regularly drop 3-10 placings.
This is usually a very static area as well, very few people SEO'ing, grandfathered sites, no new links etc.

It can only be instability withing the Google system.

[steveb]

Strange behavior in my niche. For the seventh or eighth time recently, a batch of significantly superior results appears on some of the datacenters (mostly -gv, -lm and -kr ones). I think (duh...), "Oh good, a nice little correction." These results hang around for several hours, even a day, but then poof, the weaker results from the other datacenters move over and the better ones are gone.

At the same time it is hopeful and frustrating... there is a better algorithm mix inches away, but noooooo, its just a tease.

But, to stay on topic, the bottom line is quite a bit of dancing, but then only to have it settle down to not much movement. Decent results, but better ones are clearly available. (Zero PR changes of course.)

[jsnow]

Has there been a new post from GG since the IPO? I would have thought the quiet period would be over now! And this would certainly be a nice area to get a bit of clarification on!