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The site owner (checked whois) happens also to own a hotel booking network, and surprise surprise, 3 big fat links from the home page of the directory to his main commercial site. I don't see any other commercial motive begind this directory, so I guess he built it for this one purpose. Needless to say, lots of sites included in his directory have benefited handsomely from his efforts :)
It must have taken him half a year to put this one together. Amazing what people will do for pagerank, don't you think?
I've just come across a directory site about a country which is full of old, naff information and lots of dead links.
Well... so much for the directory. How's the country doing?
I'm seeing lots of stuff like this. Beginning to think of them as PageRank Farms.
What does google consider a directory?
[google.com...]
That should give you an idea.
There is no special treatment for directories in regards to pr. Each page in a directory has its own pagerank based on the same factors as all pages. If you want to find why a directory page has a pr of 8, check its backlinks.
Directories may receive some benefits from their natural structure. Quality related external links seem to hold some sort of weight these days (unverified) even if it is just that anchor text counts more than header or something like that. I think the use of breadcrumbs can significantly help reinforce your keywords. None of these will make your pr anything other than what it should be.
Still, the basic concept stands. If you make a large directory of useful information you can solicit links much more easily than a "commercial site". IMHO using this pagerank gained from this directory to boost your own commercial site is a distortion of the usefulness of your commercial site, though worse crimes are commited in cyberspace :)
I note that the directory was built a few years ago, and it doesn't look like he has touched it since then, as half the links are dead. So much for the internet being real time :(
I remember some discussion that directories are treated differently by Google, and being classified in this way could be beneficial.
I think that would be being classified an information hub. It would take someone more knowedgable than I to explain it properlay but the way I understand it is this:
If you have many outgoing links to good PR sites you can get 'hub status' - I think google sees these sites as more important in some ways...
Nick
If you have many outgoing links to good PR sites you can get 'hub status' - I think google sees these sites as more important in some ways...
I have the most extensive directory to widget history sites on the net but I've spread them out to several catagories on separate pages. Would it do better with Google if I put them all on one page?
Also I have links to informative pages and sites that don't have a high PR. Makes sense in terms of helping the surfer but does it hurt with Google?
Also should I point to widgethistory pages on other directories like Yahoo, DMOZ and Google?
I'd like to see this directory do well not because it would make any $$$ for me but because it would help spread the word about a topic I am devoted to.
Anne
Congrats on your directory. You should let the seperate pages like they are structured now - targeting several categories. Look into makting them as pyramid styled as possible - if you didn't allready.
>Also I have links to informative pages and sites that don't have
>a high PR. Makes sense in terms of helping the surfer but does
>it hurt with Google?
Your visitors come first. They'd be happy and prob link to you. And Google shouldn't have a problem with it as long as the linked pages are relevant to your theme and are not penalized or cheating.
>Also should I point to widgethistory pages on other directories
>like Yahoo, DMOZ and Google?
I do it. Don't know if i get a boost for this ... since my site is a specialized directory, a link to other directorie's category pages is logic and very relevant / related, no!?
>I'd like to see this directory do well ...
I wish you luck! ;)
Nick
Google uses PageRank. You can either be a hub or an authority. Decide which one you want a particular page to be and stick with it. Don't mince types with Google.Hubs have many links and are ranked by backwards clicks. Meaning that every time someone hits their back button - to find more sites - you actually score points. Hallway pages or directories are good examples of hubs, especially if you link to them with authority pages.
I think maybe that should be taken with a teaspoonful of salt. Interesting idea though.
Google uses PageRank. You can either be a hub or an authority. Decide which one you want a particular page to be and stick with it. Don't mince types with Google.
My take on what he's talking about: PageRank isn't the only number Google calculates. Among the others are two that are often called "hub score" and "authority score." Since they're also based on linking, they're somewhat related to PageRank, but calculated independently -- and since they don't appear on the toolbar they get a lot less attention.
It's not the case that you "can either be a hub or an authority" -- you get evaluated and scored for both -- but the relationship between those two scores is probably also taken into consideration.
Hubs have many links and are ranked by backwards clicks. Meaning that every time someone hits their back button - to find more sites - you actually score points.
That's just silly. How would Google know which links on your site people click on, or whether they click the "back button" while looking at another site to return to yours?
Hubs have many links and are ranked by backwards clicks. Meaning that every time someone hits their back button - to find more sites - you actually score points.
Sounds like someone once heard about how DirectHit worked and concocted a whole fantasy around it.
Anne
Google loves data - lots and lots of data.
Don't suppose they'd just be setting on two years worth of toolbar data without using it do you? I don't.
I've just come across a directory site about a country which is full of old, naff information and lots of dead links.
Oh my, my first thought was that you were referring to DMOZ/Google directory. But since you didn't mention lots of Geocities pages in PR6 categories, decades old newspaper articles, multiple pages with one small article each in various categories, all designed to get maximum PR while newer well-designed sites wait for months to get rejected finally, it has to be some other directory. ;)
Be thankful that the directory you are referring to is not dead most of the time as a very famous directory is. :)
Don't suppose they'd just be setting on two years worth of toolbar data without using it do you? I don't.
I have noticed a lot of these directories people run as sideline to other businesses. I am not sure pagerank is the only or main reason.
Google lists new pages from these directories (i.e. newly registered links of the directory) as fresh data in good positions with the keywords surrounding the newly registered links i.e. for all kind of topics.
These directory pages get listed by google even before the new site itself!
Directories get lots of hits that way without doing much therefore are good advertising space for all sorts of things.
>>It has pagerank 8. I guess that's the standard Google pagerank for "true" directory sites, since I've not seen a large directory with less.
I checked on Joeant.com and GoGuides.org - they have both currently only PR of 6 (from memory I think both were 7 once)
Both are good attempts to start a new general directory, and both have been going 2 years now.
So...its not true to say that a directory automatically gets PR8
Things change fast in cyberspace!
