SEO News » Tags » PageRankSERP

November 2010 Google Webmaster Report

Posted: November 4th, 2010, 2:21pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

As we do every month, we summarize an ongoing WebmasterWorld thread specifically designed to track Google changes. We also provide links to the most interesting Google SEO related topics we covered in the past month. You can find last month's report over here.

Here are some of the points from the WebmasterWorld thread:

Significant ranking changes
Google's holiday shopping algorithm
Ranking changes from day to day

Tedster mentioned the "holiday shopping" algorithm, implying Google knows people are now in buy mode for the holiday season and maybe Google's algorithm is a bit more product/shopping sensitive these days?

Anyway, here is a break down of the topics we covered in the past month.

Google Algo/Ranking Related:

Google User Interface Related:

Google Webmaster Tools Related:

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google Update or Bug: More Complaints Over Google's Search Results

Posted: October 29th, 2010, 4:03pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

I am not sure what to call it but it seems there are more and more complaints on the Google search results this week. Earlier this week, we reported on a May Day round two update and explained how May Day can be patient in it's attack of your site.

That being said, there are two Webmaster World threads and a bunch of threads with complaints at Google Webmaster Help with complaints on:

Ranking changes
Content missing
URLs not showing properly
Snippets and titles not showing correctly
And more...

I am not sure exactly what is going on, but these reports do seem credible. If you want, post examples for JohnMu of Google to review at the Google Webmaster Help thread.

Forum discussion at Webmaster World and Google Webmaster Help.

Google PageRank Updating This Morning? October 2010

Posted: October 18th, 2010, 3:15pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

I am seeing some early reports of a Google Toolbar PageRank update this morning. There are threads with discussion on the topic at DigitalPoint Forums and Google Webmaster Help. Plus if you search for [pagerank] on Twitter, you will see lots of people saying their site's PageRank has been updated.

There is currently no thread at WebmasterWorld, but I suspect one to pop up some time this morning.

The last reported PageRank update was in September, but it was reportedly minor. Last year, Google did a toolbar PageRank update in October 2009, and typically Google stays on schedule with these.

Again, toolbar PageRank has no direct influence on your search rankings. This is all about egos and making one feel happy or sad. So don't take the update too personally.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums and Google Webmaster Help.

Some Reports of September 2010 Google PageRank Update

Posted: September 14th, 2010, 4:01pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

There are some, not wide spread reports, of a Google PageRank update at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums. Not everyone is agreeing on this, but there are enough people saying their PageRank values in the Google Toolbar has changed.

Some are saying they see gray bars and some are saying their PageRank is up or down a point. The last PageRank update we had was in July 2010, so I believe we are due an update now.

This may be a minor PageRank update and again, minor or not, what you see in the Google Toolbar has zero impact on where you rank in Google.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.

September 2010 Google Webmaster Report

Posted: September 7th, 2010, 4:01pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

This is our ongoing monthly summary of the changes that took place at Google from a webmaster/SEO perspective. You can read the August 2010 report from last month.

The comments from SEOs and Webmasters in the WebmasterWorld include:

Fresh pages of content getting a ranking boost,
Sites impacted by MayDay seeing a little reversal
Google liking academic results more
Site operator failing for past 24 hours
and much more.

Here are the most important Google related topics we covered from the past month:

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

August 2010 Google Webmaster Report

Posted: August 3rd, 2010, 4:02pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

It is that time of the month, where we give you an update on what is going on with Google in terms of SEO related updates. The last update was in July 2010 and here is our August report.

This post is always based off of a WebmasterWorld thread. This time, Tedster, the WebmasterWorld administrator, has made my life easy by summarizing the most significant discussions in the Google forum. He said there is more talk about the -950 over optimization penalty, reports of rankings going up but traffic going down, traffic cycles between poorly-targeted and well-targeted, even though the total stays level, rankings are lost after a template change, even though textual content and URLs do not change and traffic fluctuates wildly during the day, or from day to day.

Outside of those discussions, here are some of the more significant Google stories from this past month.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Minor Google PageRank Update : July 2010

Posted: July 23rd, 2010, 3:39pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

We had two PageRank updates in June of this year already. However, this latest Toolbar PageRank update seems to be relatively minor and impacts only a small percentage of web sites out there.

Starting on June 20th or June 21st, some people began reporting seeing their PageRank change in the Google Toolbar.

We have threads at DigitalPoint Forums and several at Google Webmaster Help.

This is minor, most people were not impacted. It may be one of those PageRank penalty cycles where sites are hit for buying or selling links. But again, it is a minor update and not noticed by most.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums and Google Webmaster Help.

Link Update In Google Webmaster Tools

Posted: July 16th, 2010, 3:42pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Folks at WebmasterWorld are discussing a recent link update in their Google Webmaster Tools link reports.

Now, we know that Caffeine resulted in the recent spike in links found in Google Webmaster Tools.

The first time since then, Google has updated those links. Some say, it is updated every three days anyway and we normally don't report link updates in Webmaster Tools, because they are updated frequently, but this seems to be the first one after that.

So I checked, and the last time I looked was with this update and I had 974,494 links. Today, I have 1,060,844 links to this site, according to Google. So there was an update and it should continue to grow, as we said a week or two ago.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Link Update In Google Webmaster Tools

Posted: July 16th, 2010, 3:42pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Folks at WebmasterWorld are discussing a recent link update in their Google Webmaster Tools link reports.

Now, we know that Caffeine resulted in the recent spike in links found in Google Webmaster Tools.

The first time since then, Google has updated those links. Some say, it is updated every three days anyway and we normally don't report link updates in Webmaster Tools, because they are updated frequently, but this seems to be the first one after that.

So I checked, and the last time I looked was with this update and I had 974,494 links. Today, I have 1,060,844 links to this site, according to Google. So there was an update and it should continue to grow, as we said a week or two ago.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Link Update In Google Webmaster Tools

Posted: July 16th, 2010, 3:42pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Folks at WebmasterWorld are discussing a recent link update in their Google Webmaster Tools link reports.

Now, we know that Caffeine resulted in the recent spike in links found in Google Webmaster Tools.

The first time since then, Google has updated those links. Some say, it is updated every three days anyway and we normally don't report link updates in Webmaster Tools, because they are updated frequently, but this seems to be the first one after that.

So I checked, and the last time I looked was with this update and I had 974,494 links. Today, I have 1,060,844 links to this site, according to Google. So there was an update and it should continue to grow, as we said a week or two ago.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

July 2010 Google Webmaster Report

Posted: July 5th, 2010, 4:19pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

This is our monthly report on changes that took place at Google over the past 30-days or so. You can see our June 2010 report and see it was all about the May Day update and possible signs of Caffeine being live. Well, now Caffeine is live, which may be the reason for so many things going on this month, as opposed to the previous months.

This report is typically based off the monthly WebmasterWorld thread, but this thread is pretty stale for now. Why? Possibly because of the July 4th weekend. In any event, there was a ton of discussion at WebmasterWorld about things going on, so here is our recap of important topics covered on Google in the past month.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Second June 2010 Google PageRank Update

Posted: June 29th, 2010, 4:00pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Earlier this month, we had a Google PageRank update and now there are many many reports of another PageRank update.

We have threads at DigitalPoint Forums, Webmaster World and Google Webmaster Help with people reporting their Google PageRank score changed in the Google Toolbar.

Of course, most of us don't give a hoot about toolbar PageRank - but nevertheless, people look.

I'd be surprised if you didn't check your PageRank score on at least one site after reading this post.

What you do with that information after is the important thing. Do nothing. Toolbar PageRank is outdated, shows you very little about the true quality of the site and is there as a PR gimmick.

Did your Google Toolbar PageRank increase or decrease or just stay the same?

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums, Webmaster World and Google Webmaster Help.

Google Image Search Update : June 2010

Posted: June 28th, 2010, 4:04pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

A month and a half ago, we reported on a Google Image Search update. It seems there was another update over the weekend.

A WebmasterWorld thread has Google Images guru zeus reporting on the update. He said now more and more images that were blocked in moderate search (default filter) is now showing up, and at the same time, the quality is still there.

Zeus said:

It looks like we have once again gotten more images included under "safe search moderate" and I still dont see any bad images worth counting, so a good job done. Rankings seem the same.

One thing is for sure they try the last 6-12 Month to include more images to the search, also they got better in not excluding good images.

Thats it, Google image is on a good path the last few yearsand Google remember never change a wining team.

Of course, things do come up and we see it all the time where images that are adult in nature are showing in moderate or strict SafeSearch. But overall, Google is doing a pretty good job with image search.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google June 2010 PageRank Update

Posted: June 4th, 2010, 3:23pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Everyone panic! There is a Google PageRank update taking place! Okay, I am just kidding about panicing, but there is some sort of Google Toolbar PageRank update going on now.

We have threads on the topic at DigitalPoint Forums, WebmasterWorld and a dozen or so Google Webmaster Help threads.

It seems like most of the reports seem to be that their PageRank went down to a 0. So this PageRank update does somewhat seem penalty related. Others saw a smaller downgrade of their Toolbar PageRank.

It is important to note that Toolbar PageRank has no direct correlation with ranking. Google uses their own internal PageRank numbers and what they show in the Toolbar is often believed to not just be outdated but also not accurate.

I have not seen people report Toolbar PageRank increases, but I could have missed it.

The last Toolbar PageRank update was the April 2010 PageRank update.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums, WebmasterWorld and a dozen or so Google Webmaster Help threads.

June 2010 Google Webmaster Report

Posted: June 3rd, 2010, 3:26pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

It is that time of the month again, and here is our June 2010 Google webmaster report based off a WebmasterWorld thread. As you can imagine, a lot of the talk is around the MayDay update but there is still some discussion around Google Caffeine. In addition, some webmasters are discussing new insight into how internal linking differs from the previous weights - again, speculation. Outside of that, that is what webmasters are mostly discussing.

Here are the highlighted Google related posts from the past month:

The last report we had was from April 2010 due to the significant MayDay discussion we had early on.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Video: Google's Matt Cutts On May Day Update

Posted: May 30th, 2010, 9:39pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

I thought my fourth post on the Google May Day update would be it for the month of May, but I was wrong. In my fifth post on May Day in May 2010, Matt Cutts has released a video on what is going on in this "May Day update."

In summary:

April 28th - May 3rd is when it happened
Algorithmic change
Impacts long tail searches more than short tail searches
It is "deliberate" and will be sticking around
Quality change
No relation to Caffeine but Caffeine is "proceeding to pace"
No human manipulation
This is not temporary
If you are impacted, assess your site for quality

Here is the detailed video from Google's Matt Cutts:

Matt also now has his hair back.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Sphinn.

Google May Day Update Confirmed, Our Fourth Post

Posted: May 28th, 2010, 3:29pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

This will be our fourth post on the Google May Day update. We first reported it on May 3rd then again on May 14th and then most recently May 25th and today is our last post on it in May 2010.

Vanessa Fox did the leg work to get Google to provide details on this update and posted her findings at Search Engine Land. In short, Google confirmed the update twice, once at the Google I/O, as we said and once again to us at Search Engine Land.

Matt Cutts of Google said at Google I/O and confirmed in an email to us that he did say this:

This is an algorithmic change in Google, looking for higher quality sites to surface for long tail queries. It went through vigorous testing and isn’t going to be rolled back.

In a follow up with Google's team, Google said this was a change to the rankings algorithm and not a change to the indexing or crawling areas.

This does impact long-tail keywords, as covered almost a month ago. It is also Google is confident and said they won't roll back. Vanessa's expert opinion was:

This change seems to have primarily impacted very large sites with “item” pages that don’t have many individual links into them, might be several clicks from the home page, and may not have substantial unique and value-added content on them. For instance, ecommerce sites often have this structure. The individual product pages are unlikely to attract external links and the majority of the content may be imported from a manufacturer database. Of course, as with any change that results in a traffic hit for some sites, other sites experience the opposite. Based on Matt’s comment at Google I/O, the pages that are now ranking well for these long tail queries are from “higher quality” sites (or perhaps are “higher quality” pages).
My complete speculation is that perhaps the relevance algorithms have been tweaked a bit. Before, pages that didn’t have high quality signals might still rank well if they had high relevance signals. And perhaps now, those high relevance signals don’t have as much weight in ranking if the page doesn’t have the right quality signals.

The folks over at WebmasterWorld are now picking apart this new evidence and trying to isolate which niches these might impact specifically and what can be done to reverse the impact.

I should note that when analyzing this, make sure your traffic didn't decline due to the redesign. We ran a poll and 43% said traffic dropped due specifically to the redesign at Google and not MayDay.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Sphinn.

Update: Matt Cutts of Google posted a video on this topic, watch the May Day Video on our blog.

Something Is Up (Or Down) With Google's Search Algorithm

Posted: May 25th, 2010, 4:11pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

It has been a really long time since covering SEO in the forums where I have seen so much stress and discussion amongst webmasters and SEOs about a possible change in the Google algorithm. We wrote about the Google May Day update twice, people suggesting this is a self improving algorithm that impacts the mid-long-tail keywords.

But the discussion continues to go on at WebmasterWorld, already on it's 3rd thread on this single topic this month. That is huge in terms of one topic of discussion at WebmasterWorld. Plus, I see random short threads at various other forums with SEOs and webmasters complaining about rank changes this month at Google.

Of course, the issue with WebmasterWorld is that they don't allow examples.

In any event, some are still wondering if this is Google Caffeine related, even though Caffeine is not an algorithm update, but rather an index structure update. Anyway, it is really hard to tell.

But if you noticed, 43% said traffic is down since the launch of the new design earlier this month. Some say it is related to the design and some say it is related to May Day. The distinction is, are your rankings the same and traffic down or is it both? If it is both, then call it May Day if it is just traffic, it is design related. If it is both, you want to check out the links above and the WebmasterWorldthread.

There is a blog said Matt Cutts of Google did mention the May Day update but didn't provide any details. The blog writes Matt as saying, "Mayday is an algorithmic change in Google (should find out more about this)." The blogger added in the comments, "Matt did not provide any details or specifics on Mayday. It was brought up during the Q & A part of the session and Matt said it had to do with changes to the algorithm to make it more accurate. I believe he said most sites would not be affected, but I'll have to review the audio I recorded."

I cannot find a video of this nor has Matt made any more comments on May Day.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google Image Search Update May 2010

Posted: May 6th, 2010, 3:00pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Zeus, the man who is known to follow the Google Image Search index and report back on any changes, is updating us on the state of that index. In a WebmasterWorld thread, Zeus said there is a new update that just took place. He said he is happy overall with the changes, because he noticed more images added to the results when the searchsearch filter is set to on. He said this update took place on April 28, 2010.

He said:

I have noticed search with "SafeSearch moderate on" has once again added more images to that filter which before was not there, which is of cause a good thing for the search quality, so once again nothing to complain about, which has also been the case now for some time, so it looks like Google image is finally stable.

He also added an example of what he saw on one of his sites:

A site of mine have lost all images , but 2 in safe search filter on, thats a little weird be cause nothing was done to the site or links added, so now im wondering if a ad could be the reason, I will have a look, I think such things are always interesting to solve and special since last year when you dont have to wait 3 Month for a image update.

The last reported shift in Google Images before this was on February 16th.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

April 2010 Google Webmaster Report

Posted: April 6th, 2010, 2:16pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Our ongoing Google Webmaster reports continue with the April 2010 WebmasterWorld thread that has dozens of Google obsessed webmasters and SEOs tracking every little change at Google. Here are some observations pulled out from the thread, agree or disagree with them - that is up to you:

Caffeine creeping into Google.com
PageRank update
Major traffic changes from Google
URLs without snippets showing more often
Increase in results found for site commands
More rumors Caffeine will be launching in April (due to Matt editing a comment to say "weeks")

And for the highlights from Google topics we covered in the past month:

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Note: This was written Sunday, April 4th and scheduled to be posted today.

Google April 2010 PageRank Update

Posted: April 5th, 2010, 2:35pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Google had update the toolbar PageRank scores over the weekend. The last PageRank update was about 3 months ago in late December or early January. But an interesting fact is that Google has updated their PageRank values in the toolbar every year in April since 2004.

Last year, we reported an April 2009 PageRank update, the year before that we had an April 2008 PR update, then the year before that an April 2007 update and the year before that an April 2006 PageRank update and year before that also an April 2005 PR update and then in April 2004 - pretty cool!

In any event - the toolbar PageRank scores should have updated on some sites. Enjoy!

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld, DigitalPoint Forums, Google Webmaster Help.

Note: This was written Sunday, April 4th and scheduled to be posted today.

More Google Caffeine Sightings Over Weekend

Posted: January 25th, 2010, 2:28pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

An ongoing WebmasterWorld thread has sparked up some heat over the weekend when more people are claiming to see the Google Caffeine results out in the wild.

WebmasterWorld administrator, Tedster, said on Friday night, that he seems them on six IP addresses. He said:

I'm seeing the Caffeine data-set being served via this set of IP addresses: 64.233.169.147, 64.233.169.105, 64.233.169.103, 64.233.169.104, 64.233.169.99,64.233.169.106
It seems to take 5 IP addresses to build the complete SERP, where in the past it often took only 3.

Here are links to them:

Senior member, Whitenight said:

Well, just tripled checked with offices/employees in Texas, Colorado, and Indiana. All 5 "control" keywords/sites showed live Caffeine.

Does this mean it is live? Not necessarily. Does it mean that Caffeine is coming soon? Not necessarily.

I guess we wait on Google to say something.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google Toolbar PageRank Update (New Years 2010)

Posted: December 31st, 2009, 2:06pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Almost exactly like last year, Google is pushing out a New Years PageRank Update now. Mid-December we reported PageRank shifts or penalties and today, there are wide spread reports of a PageRank update in the Google Toolbar.

It is a bit funny, because last New Years, we reported in mid-December a PR shuffle and then on December 31, 2008 we reported an official PageRank update in the toolbar. It is almost exactly the same way this year. Today, December 31, 2009, we are reporting the 2010 New Years PageRank update.

The last toolbar PageRank update before today was in October. Like I always say, Toolbar PageRank is not of great use to SEOs. It is often months out of date and does not determine a rank of a web page. So please do not obsess over Toolbar PageRank.

For those who saw their toolbar PageRank go up, congrats on the 'badge' and here is to an even higher PR in 2010!

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld, Google Webmaster Help, Search Engine Watch Forums and DigitalPoint Forums.

Major Google Search Thanksgiving '09 Update? Caffeine Related?

Posted: November 27th, 2009, 3:11pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Update: Matt Cutts from Google confirmed that Caffeine is live 50% of the time in the 209.85.225.103 data center. See below for more info.

There are several threads reporting major changes in the Google search results, starting yesterday. We have threads at DigitalPoint Forums, Google Webmaster Help and an updated WebmasterWorld thread.

In short, people are noticing major changes in the search results. Some believe it is a Caffeine index rolling into their search results. Some believe it is just a normal update and not Caffeine related. We do know that Matt Cutts promised not to roll out Caffeine until after the holidays and a roll out at this time would be the worst possible time for online retailers (unless you rank very well in Caffeine.

We also know Google is eventually rolling out Caffeine to a single data center, which can be why many people are noting an update. But again, it might be that these folks are on this single data center or that this is not a Caffeine update. I certainly hope this was not a mistake and Google released the Caffeine update prematurely.

The data center people are talking about now is 209.85.225.103.

People are saying that their traffic is down because of it, but some are also noting that it is/was Thanksgiving yesterday, which can result in people not being on their computers searching Google - thus less traffic from Google.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums, Google Webmaster Help and an updated WebmasterWorld.

Update from Matt Cutts:

My plane landed and I had time to check. 209.85.225.103 as an IP address currently hits the Caffeine data center about 50% of the time, so that's probably what the person at DP was seeing.
I think it's really risky to take a few threads and turn that into a "major Google update." For example, one of the links you pointed to was asking about the rankings for their site webtlk.com. Given links like http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:iwkj8P8xoSEJ:teqtonik.com/+http://teqtonik.com/&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a talking about data recovery and pointing to that site, I'm guessing that Google just got better at determining how much weight should be given to links to that site.

So 209.85.225.103 does hit the Caffeine data center more often than other IP addresses, but it's always been the plan that Caffeine would roll out at one data center (no more data centers will get Caffeine until at least January).

But I would avoid generalizing, at least as going by the one report that mentioned a specific site that I looked into. Of course, on a lot of the webmaster forums you can't tell what site they're talking about, so it's hard to do any debugging on what might have happened to individual sites there.

Google's Happy Birthday Gandhi Logo

Posted: October 2nd, 2009, 3:45pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

If you visit Google.com today, you may see a Google logo or 'doodle' with the picture of Gandhi. Today, is Gandhi's 140th birthday, he was born today in 1869.

Here is a copy of the logo:

With virtually any Google Doodle, there are some upset with Google picking one event over another. One Google Webmaster Help thread has a person noting that this is also International Day of Non-Violence. But it is this day, because it is Gandhi's birthday. So far, I have not seen complaints about the logo.

Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help and Google Webmaster Help.

Matt Cutts Talks About NoFollow PageRank Sculpting

Posted: June 17th, 2009, 2:23pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

A couple weeks ago, the news that Google treated the distribution of PageRank for pages with nofollow links differently then they would other pages. As explained then:

If you have $10 in authority to spend on those ten links, and you block 5 of them, the other 5 aren’t going to get $2 each. They’re still getting $1. It’s just that the other $5 you thought you were saving is now going to waste.

So Google's Matt Cutts finally wrote a detailed blog post on PageRank Sculpting that discusses what Google does and doesn't do. Go read the whole post when you have a chance, it is very important.

This has been in place for about a year and no SEO really picked up on it.

To my question of "Are Blogs Doomed With NoFollow PageRank Sculpting Issue?" Matt replied:

Q: Okay, but doesn’t this encourage me to link out less? Should I turn off comments on my blog?
A: I wouldn’t recommend closing comments in an attempt to “hoard” your PageRank. In the same way that Google trusts sites less when they link to spammy sites or bad neighborhoods, parts of our system encourage links to good sites.

SEOs and webmasters are simply not happy. The bottom line is this is how it has been for about a year and I doubt it will change.

I am not going to summarize the comments in the thread, simply cause I am not feeling all that great, but I'll link them for you. There are some interesting comments in the thread and in Matt's post.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Sphinn.

June 2009 Google Webmaster Report

Posted: June 3rd, 2009, 3:31pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

It is that time of the month again and we got your Google Webmaster report based on a new WebmasterWorld thread.

The main thing I see repeated throughout the thread is that Google seems to be bouncing some results around by plus or minus fifteen positions. One SEO put it like this:

My site is recovered for 60% of terms and back to old positions. For 25% of terms is back but lower for +/- 10 or 15 positions. For 15% terms is still not back. And within 15% is one of most import keywords.

That really is what most of the thread is about today. The last webmaster report is the May 2009 webmaster report. Here are some other key items that happened with Google over the past month.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Color Red in the Google Toolbar PageRank Indicator

Posted: May 22nd, 2009, 4:02pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

A Google Webmasters Help thread asks, what does it mean when the Google Toolbar PageRank indicator is a red color, as opposed to green?

Here is a screen capture:

So what does that mean?

(1) Maybe this image was photoshoped
(2) Or maybe there is a plugin that makes the color red, instead of green

This is a joke, but it caught my attention and I thought it would be nice to lighten things up a bit before the weekend.

Forum discussion at Google Webmasters Help.

54% of SEOs Believe in Artificial Google PageRank

Posted: April 16th, 2009, 2:34pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

About a week ago, we wrote a piece about getting PageRank without links. In that write up, we wrote how Google may give pages temporary or artificial PageRank to make up for the page being new.

We decided to poll our readers, asking if they believed in such a concept or not.

54% of our readers, 83 of the 153 responses, said they believe that Google does give web pages artificial PageRank. 44% of our readers, 67 of the 153 responses, said they do not believe in an artificial PageRank concept.

Interesting break down. Personally, I do believe Google does give new pages a temporary or artificial PageRank value early on.

Forum discussion continued at WebmasterWorld.

This article was written earlier this week and scheduled to go live April 16th.

April Fools Google PageRank Update

Posted: April 2nd, 2009, 3:06pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Yesterday, as well as today, I spotted dozens of threads on Google updating their site's toolbar PageRank scores. I didn't want to post the details until today, simply because it was April Fools. But the PageRank update seems to be here and like always, too many people care.

We have threads at Google Webmasters Help, WebmasterWorld, DigitalPoint Forums (dozens there), and HighRankings Forum.

Yes, it seems like Google did push out a toolbar update. I will quote one post from all of these threads. The post is from Googler, JohnMu in the Google Webmasters Help thread:

I'm pretty sure we'll have another Toolbar PR update this year. However, as touched upon by the others, this is generally not something you need to worry about.

Enough said.

Forum discussion at Google Webmasters Help, WebmasterWorld, DigitalPoint Forums, and HighRankings Forum.

Google Search March 2009 Webmaster Report Update

Posted: March 4th, 2009, 2:03pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

In our monthly tradition, we are reporting on the March 2009 Google Search changes as seen via the ongoing WebmasterWorld thread. You can see the February report that we posted last month to catch up.

This month, one member feels Google is now weighing heavier on the keywords used in backlinks (anchor text) to determine page relevancy. Full member, jcmiras said:

Assuming you searched for "word1+word2+word3" (without quotes), usually, we thought that all of the pages that appear in the SERP should contain all of the keywords. However, there are pages in the result which contain only "word1" and "word2" but "word3" is not there, instead, it is on one of the pages that that particular page in the SERP is linking to.

WebmasterWorld's administrator, Tedster, said he has seen a recent spike in chatter about this in the forums and elsewhere.

Other news that happened recently and that is being discussed include stories that we posted within the past couple weeks. They include:

Keep watching this space and the WebmasterWorld thread for updates.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

February '09 Google Image Search Update?

Posted: February 23rd, 2009, 2:14pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

It was just about a month ago when we reported a Google image search update and now I am seeing reports of another update.

A senior WebmasterWorld member posted a thread at WebmasterWorld on the 20th, reporting a new Google Image Search update. Zeus said:

Yesterday I saw some few glitches here and there in the Image search, but today there are some BIG changes, new Images has been added again, maybe also moderate filter update, where they for years have had a problem with loosing good sites images, be cause other sites are hotlinking to those images with bad text, then Google see the Original site as bad.

What is interesting is that we rarely see an update on Google Image Search 30 days apart from another update. There is some speculation that Google might be updating their image index more frequently these days. Like in the past, Google use to update their web index every X or so days, and now they update their web index almost real time - maybe Google is speeding up the image search index?

Google Image search can be a huge source of referrals for many sites, so it would make sense to me if Google decided to update the image index more frequently. Especially since images and video are so much more active these days on the web.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google Images January 2009 Update

Posted: January 22nd, 2009, 11:36am CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

I am now seeing early reports of a Google Image Search update via WebmasterWorld. The reports claim that Google has been adding new images to the image index and those images are now showing up in the search results.

That last Google Image Search update was in October and we see them every few months or so.

There is no word on if there was an update to the image filter. But we may see more reports coming in on that news soon. So, if you have been waiting for your new images to show up in Google, you may now be in luck.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google's Hyves PageRank Loophole? Check If Site Has Google Penalty

Posted: January 20th, 2009, 10:48pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Marcus Tandler blogged about a discovery in a German SEO thread at my old time friend's forum named ABAKUS Forums (translated version over here), about a weird loophole that seems to allow you to check if a site is penalized or not, via the Google Toolbar.

Let me show you how it works. Here is an example.

(1) Open a browser that has the Google Toolbar installed, with a PageRank feature. Navigate to http://www.seo-radio.de/ (as an example) and see the PageRank value is a 5. Here is a screen capture:

(2) Change the URL to http://hyves.seo-radio.de/ and notice the PageRank value jumps up to a 7. Here is a screen capture:

Now, what is going on here. According to the consensus in the thread, there are three values you can get from doing this:

PR7 = No Google Penalty
PR4 = Google Penalty
PR0 = Site Banned in Google

What would be Google's rational in having this loophole? I really don't know. How can this be overlooked by Google? I am not sure. But everyone is in agreement that this loophole will be gone, soon enough.

Forum discussion at Sphinn and ABAKUS Forums.

Google Toolbar PageRank Drops Over January '09 Weekend

Posted: January 19th, 2009, 2:10pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Over the weekend, I noticed many reports from a wide array of search forums, where webmasters are noticing their PageRank scores drop in the Google Toolbar.

We have threads from WebmasterWorld, two from DigitalPoint Forums, and a Google Webmaster Help thread. All filled with complaints that their toolbar PageRank scores have dropped, many dropped to zero.

In addition, an update to the WebmasterWorld thread on the Google January 2009 changes was also noticed, where some are reporting shifts in the Google results. Here is one snippet from that thread that stands out to me:

Definitely a shift in whats in and whats out, i'm seeing some duplicate pages in the serp's indented duplicates at that, the first of these has a cache date of over a year and the indented results has a cache date of a few days.
Some of the pages that i witnessed drop out of there serp's on the 23rd Dec are suffering from this issue but not all, i'm assuming at the moment that this was the problem for those web pages, still seeing some funky page totals return for some very competitive search terms first page displaying 25 mil results return but if you dig deeper there are only 500 pages before the "omitted results" link comes up.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld, DigitalPoint Forums, and a Google Webmaster Help.

Poll: Most SEOs Say PageRank Data in Google Webmaster Tools is Useless

Posted: January 9th, 2009, 2:46pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

On Tuesday, we ran a poll asking if Google's PageRank data reports in Webmaster Tools useless or useful. The results are in and the majority of SEOs believe those reports are completely useless.

I am one to agree with the masses here, not because I don't think Google doesn't want to provide useful information here. But more because of the issues I have seen with the reports in Webmaster Tools over the years and how they often are simply wrong or outdated due to bugs or resource issues.

Here is a breakdown of the 131 responses:
:: PR data in WMT is Useless said 74 respondents or 56.49%
:: PR data in WMT is Not Helpful said 32 respondents or 24.43%
:: PR data in WMT is Somewhat Helpful said 19 respondents or 14.5%
:: PR data in WMT is Very Helpful said 4 respondents or 3.05%
:: Other category said 2 respondents or 1.53%

So there you have it, thanks for participating in the poll.

Forum discussion continued at WebmasterWorld.

Major Google Search Results Changes, January 2009

Posted: January 2nd, 2009, 2:25pm CET by Tamar Weinberg

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

A few days ago, we reported the last Google PageRank update of 2008. We're not certain if this is related, but there are a lot of interesting observations related to the PageRank update that we've seen. For once, I've noticed discussion about fewer sitelinks on some sites. In fact, I've personally been impacted by 8 to 6 sitelinks on one of my sites.

Google is also apparently giving some browser "hijacking" domains (that is, sites that don't let you hit the "back" button) a lot more visibility in the SERPs in addition to mirror sites.

We're also not sure if this is related but some people have spotted some big drops their rankings in the SERPs.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld and Google Groups

Google Confirms PageRank Update (New Years 2009)

Posted: December 31st, 2008, 1:58pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Over Christmas and the holidays, we reported early signs of a Toolbar PageRank Update. Those reports have now been confirmed by Google's Matt Cutts via Twitter. Matt said about 6 hours ago:

Yes, Google updated our toolbar PageRank values today. Consider this the confirmation.

You can then see other Googler's like JohnMu, "liking this" on Matt's FriendFeed page.

Of course, we have a whole new slew of PageRank update threads and posts now. They include:

The folks over at the brand new Google Webmaster Help section are happy to see their new forum reach a PageRank of 7, in a matter of just weeks.

So there you have it, as expected, the Toolbar PageRank update has been confirmed.

Christmas & Holiday 2008 Google PageRank Update?

Posted: December 22nd, 2008, 1:57pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Over the weekend, I have noticed several threads mentioning updates to Google's Toolbar PageRank scores. The reports are not as widespread as a typical Toolbar PageRank update warrants, which leads me to ask, is this a true Toolbar PageRank update or did Google conduct a Toolbar PageRank penalty for sites not playing nice with their terms of service?

Necessary Disclaimer: Google Toolbar PageRank is a visual indicator that has no direct impact on ranking well at Google. The Toolbar PageRank is often months outdated and can be very confusing to new SEOs on how it matters. So just be warned.

We have threads at WebmasterWorld, DigitalPoint Forums and Google Webmaster Help all discussing updates to Toolbar PageRank.

Our last coverage of such an update was in the first week of October, which was a possible rollback of the Google Rosh Hashanah 5769 PageRank Update. Since then, it has been pretty quiet on the Toolbar PageRank front.

Last week, Google did update the link reports in Google Webmaster Tools.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld, DigitalPoint Forums and Google Webmaster Help.

Google Finally Updates Webmaster Tools Link Reports

Posted: December 18th, 2008, 1:56pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

It has been a while since I posted a link update post, based on Google updating their webmaster tools report. One of the reasons for this is because there has been a two to three month bug, where Google has not updated the report with new links. Google has not confirmed via a Google Webmaster Help thread that the reports are now being updated with the latest linkage data.

We typically provide a grid of our top linked to pages from this report, so here it is:

December 2008 Linkage Data	Link #
Webmasters Report September 2008 Google SERP Changes	1,717
Search Marketers Respond to Twitter's Removal of Bio Links in Profile Pages	1,655
How Do You Do SEO for a Site that is Under Construction?	1,602
Upper Case & Lower Case Searches May Return Different Google Search Results	903
Microsoft Endorses Link Exchanges -- Or Do They?	900
Daily Search Forum Recap: November 28, 2008	501
Happy Thanksgiving '08 From The Search Industry	473
A Conversation With Google CEO Eric Schmidt	624
How Important is the IP Address for SEO?	400
Keynote Conversation With Marissa Mayer	398

Now, the links report doesn't seem all that logical to me. But it is possible, who knows. It might also be that the link report is still going through the process of updating.

For the past updates see:

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help and DigitalPoint Forums.

Webmasters Report October 2008 Google SERP Changes

Posted: October 3rd, 2008, 5:20pm CEST by Tamar Weinberg

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

This month, WebmasterWorld members spotted a few anomalies in the Google SERPs:

Some people are spotting some huge numbers (and differences) in results found on Google. For example, they could be performing a search in the middle of the day and find 1 million results. Later that day, the same search may find 2 million results. It's possible that this is because of querying different datacenters (though that number is pretty substantial even to me). It's also possible that this is related to capitalization issues which Barry blogged about earlier today.

Other forum members spot Google deindexing some major pages due to what he believes to be a duplicate meta description. He notices that the same pages will end up coming back though.

On page factors are becoming more relevant versus anchor text, as many other forum members are starting to notice.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

Webmasters Report September 2008 Google SERP Changes

Posted: September 4th, 2008, 5:03pm CEST by Tamar Weinberg

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

This month, there are already a lot of different observations from the WebmasterWorld discussion on Google SERP changes. Forum members have noted that Google is looking for more fresh results and is specifically weeding out old and outdated pages. One forum member notes the following:

I think Google looks at a site and compares all the content, then keeps some of the most recent content in the results including the higher PR stuff and puts the older stuff in supplemental. That is only a guess but seems to be what is happening.

Additionally, reciprocal linking has been touched upon. It looks like Google is paying more attention to artificial linking versus natural linking schemes. From personal observations as well, I believe this to also be the case.

Numerous forum members are reporting traffic drops and ranking fluctuations as well.

I'm sure there will be a lot more discussion, so check out the thread at WebmasterWorld for additional updates.

Google Search Index Update: May '08 Update

Posted: May 21st, 2008, 3:28pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

It looks that Google might be conducting some sort of major update. Yes, I know - Google is constantly updating, constantly adding content and "improving" the algorithm. But some changes make a bigger impression in the forums then others.

I have noticed recent discussion at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums with people either complaining or praising a major shift in their rankings over the past 24 hours.

First post came in via WebmasterWorld at around 4:30am (EST), saying "There seems to be a roll back now... seeing the same old results for a few highly competitive 2 word keywords." Several members support his findings, even senior member, nuevojefe, added:

Very interesting changes I'm seeing. Major swings in a high traffic niche, but not much different in other niches I watch.
Seems new sites of a certain criteria are being allowed to jet up more though. Surprised to see new sites able to be propped up by network linking.

The DigitalPoint Forums thread has members who are commenting about a loss in traffic. Some members have posted charts showing a major drop in traffic, possibly due to a Google update.

So I think we have sort of major Google update going on.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.

Webmasters Report May 2008 Google SERP Updates

Posted: May 5th, 2008, 4:46pm CEST by Tamar Weinberg

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

This month, WebmasterWorld members have observed the same old shuffle in rankings that plagued webmasters in our April 2008 Google SERP Update post.

A lot of rankings are dropping, and one webmaster even reports that he's hit a new traffic low in 2008.

One member likens these drops to the fact that Google might want to emphasize their paid listings.

Looks to me that at this stage of the game where Google completely dominates the market it would be beneficial for them to have "inconsistent"/"moving" results in the natural search so people would click on the ads as those are consistent. When searchers will get the idea that they will not get the same (even though still relevant) result every time they search, they will most certainly pay more attention to the ads. Google getting richer?

That's definitely an interesting statement.

Other observations include blogs being ranked higher, link exchange websites taking a hit in the rankings, issues with relevant rankings (specifically, more relevant internal pages are now being replaced by the less-relevant home pages for search phrases), and a lot of dropped rankings.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

Google Updates Toolbar PageRank: April 2008

Posted: April 29th, 2008, 2:54pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

I am seeing reports from across the SEO forums that Google has updated or begun the update of the PageRank score found within the Google Toolbar.

We have threads at DigitalPoint Forums, Search Engine Roundtable Forums, WebmasterWorld and Search Engine Watch Forums - all discussing the recent PageRank update that began yesterday some time.

The last time Google updated toolbar PageRank was in late February. Google did recently update the Directory PageRank scores earlier this month. You can see some history on these recent PageRank updates over here.

What this all means for your Google rankings? Not much. Typically, a Google Toolbar PageRank update will have zero direct impact on one's ranking in Google. As Google has said, time and time again, the toolbar PageRank scores are older exports and do not resemble the PageRank score Google uses internally, at the time of ranking your pages in Google.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums, Search Engine Roundtable Forums, WebmasterWorld and Search Engine Watch Forums.

Google Directory PageRank Update: Directory PageRank Now Matches Toolbar PageRank

Posted: April 4th, 2008, 3:02pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Google has updated the PageRank bars within the Google Directory recently. The new update now matches the PageRank values of the Google Toolbar. For example, the Computers > Internet > Web Design and Development > Promotion > Weblogs category now shows my revised, penalized Toolbar PageRank score of a 4 and not a 7.

New Directory PageRank Score:

Old Directory PageRank Score:

The last time Google did a PageRank Directory update was in January and at that time, the PageRank score in the directory did not match the toolbar update from November or so. For history on that, start here and go back.

A WebmasterWorld thread notes that Google has also changes the scale of the Directory PageRank bars from a 0-7 to 0-10, this way it matches the Toolbar scale. Interesting, indeed.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Webmasters Report April 2008 Google SERP Updates

Posted: April 3rd, 2008, 4:52pm CEST by Tamar Weinberg

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Following March's update, WebmasterWorld members talk about the newest updates to the Google algorithm, including the previously discussed Dewey update.

Some observations include front page rankings that appear to be delisted (or "dumped way back," as one person puts it). He notes that one of his websites that has been up for over a decade is now totally gone with the exception of 2 pages that were updated in 2001.

News results also seem strange. A 2003 CNN story is occupying the #10 position in search, observes another member. Old documents are making their way to the forefront, whereas new documents are hidden.

Many people are noting multiple subdomains occupying more than one spot in the top 10.

The shuffle is definitely a big concern -- some results from the top spots are being relocated. Someone calls this "crazy swings." Sounds about right.

Matt Cutts is still looking for feedback about these changes, and he has been checking out the forum thread.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

Google Search Index March '08 Update Underway?

Posted: March 31st, 2008, 2:03pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Updates PageRankSERP Google

The huge WebmasterWorld thread devoted to tracking Google changes over the course of March 2008 has sprung some late March legs. Reseller, well known at WebmasterWorld for tracking the slightest changes at Google, posted two data centers that are very different.

The two data centers that appears to be shuffling around include:

Reseller jokes:

May be the folks at Google Search Quality Team are focusing this weekend at improving the search relevancy at the top ;-)

Google's constantly updating their search index and results, but this update seems to be pretty major. We do not know yet if it will propagate through to the main Google.com results.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Update: I am getting word that many folks are seeing the dramatic changes at the main Google.com results. I personally don't see the 72.14.207.104 data center hitting the Google.com results for me, but many are now.

SEO News » Tags » PageRankSERP

Feeds

48 items tagged "PageRankSERP"

Posted: November 4th, 2010, 2:21pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: October 29th, 2010, 4:03pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: October 18th, 2010, 3:15pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: September 14th, 2010, 4:01pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: September 7th, 2010, 4:01pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: August 3rd, 2010, 4:02pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: July 23rd, 2010, 3:39pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: July 16th, 2010, 3:42pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: July 16th, 2010, 3:42pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: July 16th, 2010, 3:42pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: July 5th, 2010, 4:19pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: June 29th, 2010, 4:00pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: June 28th, 2010, 4:04pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: June 4th, 2010, 3:23pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: June 3rd, 2010, 3:26pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: May 30th, 2010, 9:39pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: May 28th, 2010, 3:29pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: May 25th, 2010, 4:11pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: May 6th, 2010, 3:00pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: April 6th, 2010, 2:16pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: April 5th, 2010, 2:35pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: January 25th, 2010, 2:28pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: December 31st, 2009, 2:06pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: November 27th, 2009, 3:11pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: October 2nd, 2009, 3:45pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: June 17th, 2009, 2:23pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: June 3rd, 2009, 3:31pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: May 22nd, 2009, 4:02pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: April 16th, 2009, 2:34pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: April 2nd, 2009, 3:06pm CEST by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: March 4th, 2009, 2:03pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: February 23rd, 2009, 2:14pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: January 22nd, 2009, 11:36am CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: January 20th, 2009, 10:48pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: January 19th, 2009, 2:10pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: January 9th, 2009, 2:46pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: January 2nd, 2009, 2:25pm CET by Tamar Weinberg

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: December 31st, 2008, 1:58pm CET by rustybrick

Tags: Google PageRankSERP Updates

Posted: December 22nd, 2008, 1:57pm CET by rustybrick