# Page Rank decrease does it matter?



## Rbriggs82 (Jul 9, 2012)

As some of you may be aware on Dec 6th Google updated page rankings which was overdue. 

I checked mine and went from a 2 down to 1. I don't think it matters all that much but its been bugging me. Any thoughts as to possible causes for the downgrade?


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## PressurePros (May 6, 2007)

Mine dropped as well awhile back (I once had a three, then two and last check.. one) I was worried but it had no bearing on my local ranking. PR is a gauge of your inlink strength (how strong are the sites linking to you) . It makes sense that would have some bearing on hard to rank for keywords in global markets but for us lowly service providers that never venture more than 50 miles from home, its not worth worrying about.


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## George Z (Apr 15, 2007)

I just checked, we are still PR3 but I don't think it is that relevant any more.

I would pay more attention to Domain Authority and somewhat Page Authority these days. It takes way more factors into account.

Our DA is 45 and our PA is 51 

It can be checked here:


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## Rbriggs82 (Jul 9, 2012)

George Z said:


> I just checked, we are still PR3 but I don't think it is that relevant any more.
> 
> I would pay more attention to Domain Authority and somewhat Page Authority these days. it takes way more factors into account.
> 
> ...


I just checked mine DA 18 PA 30, pretty poor. How does one go about increasing those numbers?


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## George Z (Apr 15, 2007)

Rbriggs82 said:


> I just checked mine DA 18 PA 30, pretty poor. How does one go about increasing those numbers?


I am not sure that is poor for a contractor's page Ryan. 
Check PDCA.org, Painttalk.com or even Contractor.com, it's all relative. 
I only have few clues why mine is so high other than age and all the traction it gained along the way.
And what does that mean as far as rankings? All sites ranking ahead of me
have lower Domain Authority other than the big guys such as BBB.
There is some good info here.
But it's all about long term strategy, no shortcuts.


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## Bender (Aug 10, 2008)

George Z said:


> I just checked, we are still PR3 but I don't think it is that relevant any more.
> 
> I would pay more attention to Domain Authority and somewhat Page Authority these days. it takes way more factors into account.
> 
> ...


Thats interesting George. Not sure what it all means, but still interesting
Thanks!


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## George Z (Apr 15, 2007)

Bender said:


> Thats interesting George. Not sure what it all means, but still interesting
> Thanks!


And changing constantly.
So much to read and learn and do...
I just want to be a contractor but who am I supposed to hire to help with all this? 
I looked and looked and spent (mostly wasted) $$thousands.
All the obvious available help to us painters here is underwhelming to say the least.
I apologize to any new marketing guys here I don't know much about.
Good help outside our tight painter circle is almost impossible to find & not for our budgets.


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## PressurePros (May 6, 2007)

George, thanks for that link. Looks like I better start paying attention to my site metrics. 

Here is a sample of a strong inlink that is relevant via the comments section of a page. I used the name "power washing" and the link to my site is a follow. That page is passing along decent juice. http://www.trevorlittle.com/2007/01/03/power-washing-188-suffolk-st/


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## Rbriggs82 (Jul 9, 2012)

George Z said:


> I am not sure that is poor for a contractor's page Ryan.
> Check PDCA.org, Painttalk.com or even Contractor.com, it's all relative.
> I only have few clues why mine is so high other than age and all the traction it gained along the way.
> And what does that mean as far as rankings? All sites ranking ahead of me
> ...


Thanks George that's a great resource! 

I have to write up a game plan and implement it. I have too many things floating around in my head. When I get a chance to do stuff I try to accomplish too many things at once and usually get nothing done.


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## seomichael (Sep 23, 2013)

*As you probably already know PageRank is a metric used to determine the authority of a site and how well it SHOULD rank by looking at the number and authority of it’s backlinks. Sites with high authority will normally have a higher PR than those sites deemed spammy. And from those sites comes your PR. *


*So for example, a site that has a number of high PR backlinks from sites like CNN, .gov or edu sites will normally hold a high PR as well. Sites that are full of backlinks from spammy sites like bookmarking sites or paid links, therefore sites with low PR, will also have a low PR (not saying you fit this catagory...just an example.) *

*So with that said the first thing you want to look at when determining why your PR fell is to look within your backlinks. Google looks to see if a site is breaking any of the rules within their quality guidelines. This usually included link schemes including paid links and unnatural links. Taken from Googles Quality Guidelines on links here are some of the big hitters: *


*Buying or selling links that passPageRank. This includes exchanging money for links, or posts that contain links; exchanging goods or services for links; or sending someone a “free” product in exchange for them writing about it and including a link
[*]Excessive link exchanges ("Link to me and I'll link to you") or partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking
*

*Note: I see this a lot in forums….though not necessarily here. Usually with the good intention of helping friends and colleagues out.*


*Large-scale article marketing or guest posting campaigns with keyword-rich anchor text links
[*]Using automated programs or services to create links to your site
*

*Additionally, along with these link schemes, there are unnatural links that Google doesn’t like that come from the following sources (also copied from the link above): *


*Text advertisements that pass PageRank
[*]Advertorials or native advertising where payment is received for articles that include links that pass PageRank
[*]Links with optimized anchor text in articles or press releases distributed on other sites. For example:
*
*There are manywedding rings on the market. If you want to have awedding, you will have to pick thebest ring. You will also need tobuy flowers and awedding dress.*



*

Low-quality directory or bookmark site links

Links embedded in widgets that are distributed across various sites, for example:
Visitors to this page: 1,472 -car insurance

Widely distributed links in the footers of various sites

Forum comments with optimized links in the post or signature, for example:
Thanks, that’s great info!*
_*- Paul*_
_*paul’s pizzasan diego pizzabest pizza san diego*_

_*Note: Something to be aware of while posting on forums.*_

_*So how important is PageRank, really? *_


*Well, for most seo’s it came as a surprise that there was an update at all this year. In a keynote presentation at PubCon in October, Matt Cutts, the head of Googles anti spam department said that the funnel that pushed out Pagerank was broke and no one was working on it. He even cited on Twitter that he would be surprised if there was there was an update this year. And in the video he said he wasn’t sure, if ever, when the next update would come. And that in the future Google may be going away from PR altogether. Here is the video for your reference. *






 
*As George Z mentioned in a post above, I would take in account other metrics. At this point I don’t put a lot of weight in PR as I might have done 3-5 years ago. George gives 2 great examples of two other metrics that take into account way more variables and therefore should be looked at in more depth. The two he mentioned is Page Authority and Domain Authority. *


*In a bi-annual study performed by Moz to determine search ranking factors in terms of metric and their correlation to rankings they found the following: *

*






*

*With the following data I think its fair to say George Z is on the right track and gave some great advice. And I like that he referenced Quicksprout, a site from Neil patel….one of my favorite seo’s! *


*Conclusion*


*Take a look at your backlinks and see if there are any major offenders. If there are some obvious links you can get rid of (and still interested in improving PR) you can send a re-evaluation request to Google once you got rid of the bad links. *


*Remember that PageRank only takes into account 1 of about 200 factors Google looks at in terms of rankings whereas Page Authority and Domain authority take a full spectrum of factors to create their rank number. *


*To give you a better idea of these metrics check out moz’s page on them: *



*

Page Authority
Domain Authority
**And lastly, use these as guides. Don’t let them run you ragged. Obviously the determining factor is getting customers from your rankings no matter what….these 2 sources from George will help you better than Page Rank alone. *


*I hope this shed a little light on the subject. *


*Michael *


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## Rich Littlefield (Oct 25, 2013)

George Z said:


> I just checked, we are still PR3 but I don't think it is that relevant any more.
> 
> I would pay more attention to Domain Authority and somewhat Page Authority these days. It takes way more factors into account.
> 
> ...


George, I looked you guys up a couple days ago, your site is at Rockstar status for a painting website! Its obvious you know what you're doing, and have been doing it for a while. :thumbsup:


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## Rich Littlefield (Oct 25, 2013)

Also, great info on that QuickSprout link, because it shows what contractors can to within their own sites to structure their linking to make more sense, both to people and to Google. 

The design of making "Hero Pages" about larger, more obvious keyword phrases, and then pointing the other "supporting cast" pages to it to increase its authority works nicely within any structure, and is what people expect to see naturally as well.


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## thinkpainting/nick (Dec 25, 2012)

Rich Littlefield said:


> George, I looked you guys up a couple days ago, your site is at Rockstar status for a painting website! Its obvious you know what you're doing, and have been doing it for a while. :thumbsup:


Yea that site is cool. Just searched my domain against few other painters ...


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## thinkpainting/nick (Dec 25, 2012)

thinkpainting/nick said:


> Yea that site is cool. Just searched my domain against few other painters ...


The last guy that's listed does a loot of PPC.


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