Archive for the Category »Page Rank «

27
Mar
Google Isn’t God
Barbara Swafford

When blogging, I often reread what Google includes in their Webmaster tools If you haven’t discovered it yet, it’s a wonderful resource for anyone who has a blog or website.

Two of their statements made me contemplate how I blog.

Participate in forums related to your blog topic. Many let you include your URL link in your automatic signature.

Contribute to web forums devoted to your subject matter

When reading blogging tips, I also see bloggers expand on this by saying “stick with those blogs in the same niche as us”. That way we may get reputable links back to us which confirm to Google, we too, are “worthy”, thus possibly increasing our page rank.

I get that.

google is god Google Isnt God

Today’s Lesson

But, what fun is that?

I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t want to read blogs in my niche all day long. For me, there’s more to my life than just “blogging”.

I like to visit blogs that help me grow as a person, sites which teach, show beautiful art or photography, share stories that make me laugh, share stories that make me cry, plus much more.

For example,

Nearly every Sunday you’ll find me visiting Lance at Jungle of Life. He finds fabulous quotes and then adds awesome photos to accompany them. It’s a great way to start the week; with a positive uplifting message.

Keith Davis writes about public speaking, and even though I’m not into public speaking nor think I’ll ever need the information, because I like to learn more about different topics, I’ll read his writings.

Many of you know Michigan is my home state, and when Betsy of Passing Thru shares stories of her travels to Michigan, I’m there; taking it all in.

For a laugh or a brain teaser, I love to check out Junk Drawer Kathy’s posts on ““What’s That Wednesday” So far I haven’t guessed any of them, but it’s still fun to try.

Sara Healy always makes “Picture Story” posts fun by sharing a photo and inviting her readers to imagine what might be happening or contribute their experiences. Those are always a blast for me as I get to be goofy or am reminded of days gone by.

I’ve been following Silly Girl’s blog for quite some time now. She is a recovering anorexic. Eating disorders have never plagued me, but once I started reading her blog, her stories captured me to the extent I now not only follow her progress to recovery, buy enjoy keeping up on her life, as well.

And Hilary. Each post of hers is like a mini history lesson. I’ve learned more from her blog than I learned from all of the history classes I took in school.

So where am I going with this?

I’m not saying we shouldn’t visit and comment on blogs in our niche, but by expanding my horizons I’ve found I have not only learned more about other topics and have grown as a person, and in the process have met dozens of awesome bloggers.

As I was responding to a comment by Kaye Tench on the “The Secret That Keeps Us Blogging” post, I was also reminded of how when we meet and get to know other bloggers and learn what they do, not only do we get a feel for their capabilities, but we often become their biggest supporters when they launch a new site, product or ebook. And they, for us.

To me, that’s a win-win.

Today’s Assignment

What about you?

Do you take Google’s advice and only stick with blogs and/or forums in your niche?

Or do you frequent blogs that challenge you, surprise you, or help you in other ways?

signature for blog post.

P.S. When commenting, if you’d like to add links to blogs which have become your favorites, please feel free to do so. However, keep in mind, adding links may throw your comment into moderation, so be patient as I dig them out.

Category: Archives, Blogging, Blogging Lessons, Page Rank  67 Comments
25
Jan
What if Google Added “This” To Determine Page Rank
Barbara Swafford

Google’s page rank is an issue that eludes/frustrates most bloggers and webmasters. How it’s calculated, is treated like a “secret sauce” recipe. A few of the ingredients are known, but no one (except Google), knows all of the ingredients. Anyone who could get their hands on the “recipe”, could potentially become a multi-millionaire, overnight.

What if Google reformulated their “recipe, and added in your credit score.

Today’s Lesson

Let’s ponder this one.

Currently insurance companies, in some states, are calculating home owner and automobile premiums, based are individual credit scores. They may call it “insurance scores”, but whatever it’s called, a lower number can result in higher premiums.

This had been taken a step further by employers, who were using credit scores as a pre screening (new applicants) technique. This practice, however, has been tightened, and in some areas, abolished.

The insurance companies are checking to see if you are in debt, your credit history, and if you pay your bills on time.

Those with great credit scores are enjoying a drastic drop in their premiums, however, many others are paying substantially more.

The reasoning behind this, is: if you have poor credit, and/or are deep in debt, you may be “tempted” to file a fraudulent claim.

It is assumed, the higher your credit score, the more responsible you are. And, if you are responsible with your money, you will be more responsible in other areas of your life.

As much as there may be some truth to this reasoning, sometimes extenuating circumstances throw individuals into financial ruin, and their credit scores plummet.

Whether that is this is taken into consideration, I have found no reports that address the issue.

So, back to pondering…..

What if Google were to partially base your page rank on your credit score?

Could Google make the assumption that: A higher credit score means you are less apt to use black hat SEO techniques? Less apt to buy links? More responsible? More trustworthy? Not likely to click on your own ads, or hire someone to? Would they make the assumption that someone with a higher credit score is more apt to create more accurate content?

Today’s Assignment

What do you think?

Would using a credit score air in creating a fairer page rank system?

Would you want Google to have that much information on you? (they probably do already)

Would we see a better caliper of blogs/websites ranking higher in the search engines, if this technique were to be implemented?

If you had a higher credit score, should you also be illegible for higher paying ads?

Do you know your credit score? if not, you should.


See How Lenders See Your FICO Score

Category: Archives, Blogging Lessons, Page Rank  Tags: , , ,  13 Comments
15
Dec
What Are Paid Links
Barbara Swafford

For some time now, there has been a debate going on about Google decreasing the page rank of a website or blog, if it has “paid links”.

Today’s Lesson

So, what are paid links?

Not knowing for sure which links Google considers as “paid links”, I decided to go right to the source.

In a “must read” article, written by Matt Cutts, of Google, How to Report Paid Links, he addresses the issue of paid links, affiliate marketing, Pay per Post, submitting to directories, buying and selling links, plus several other issues. The post also includes links to others articles that provide more detailed information on these subjects.

In short, paid links are any text links, which are purchased (paid for), with the intent to try and increase page rank with search engines.

Following up on this subject, on December 1, 2007, Matt did another post on Selling Links That Pass Pagerank, that is also well worth reading.

Today’s Assignment

If you are curious about paid links, and if your blog/site is affected, please read the above mentioned articles.

Make time to read the comments also, as this issue is quite controversial.

Do you think Google should decrease the page rank of blogs or websites that contain paid links?

Do you think this move on Google’s part will affect your rank?

Do you care?

Category: Archives, Blogging Lessons, Increase Traffic, Linking, Page Rank  Tags: , ,  2 Comments
08
Oct
Page Rank – Who Cares?
Barbara Swafford

Apparently, Google cares about page rank. And, so do the other search engines. A lot of bloggers care, too. I don’t. Maybe, I should…

Today’s Lesson

What is page rank? According to Wikipedia,

PageRank is a link analysis algorithm that assigns a numerical weighting to each element of a hyperlinked set of documents, such as the World Wide Web, with the purpose of “measuring” its relative importance within the set.

That’s a mouthful.

If you take the time to read all of the matrix behind gaining a high page rank, the most important, is getting high ranking sites, to link to your site. And you want many high ranking sites, linking to your site. The more, the better. This apparently “shows” Google and the other search engines, that your site is one of high authority. After all, why would a high ranking site link to your site, if it wasn’t? Right? Not necessarily.

Links can be bought. Links can be traded (reciprocal linking).

Page rank ranges from 0/10 to 10/10. I would guess, it’s next to impossible to get a 10/10 page rank rating.

When the page rank of a site begins to increase, oftentimes, the author of the site will stop linking to lower page ranked sites. Why? It could drop their page rank. BooHoo!

It doesn’t matter if low page ranked sites links to a high page ranked site, as that is beyond the control of the author. However, those outgoing links, are controllable by the author, so oftentimes, they won’t link.

Let’s look at this. My page rank is 0/10…or in other words. I am not even ranked yet. Now if I have this figured out right, my ranking can only go up. Right? (UPDATE: My page rank on the home page of this blog, is now 1/10.) So, why worry about page rank. After all, I have a blog to be concerned about. My readers are counting on me. And, I don’t believe my loyal readers really care about my page rank.

Today’s Assignment

Since we are talking about page rank, let it be known that, page rank is something that takes time to acquire. But, having a high page rank is not the only way to get your blog discovered.

1) Write posts, using unpopular keywords. You may not get a lot of traffic, but you should get some. Try to get your post indexed within the first three pages of a search.

2) Submit you own posts to Digg. Digg has a high page rank. If you submit your post to Digg, remember to include your keywords in your description of the post. Do not submit every post to Digg. Submit the ones you think are “news worthy”. Your post may get indexed higher, through the Digg website.

3) Submit your posts to De.lici.ous, Stumble Upon and Technorati, and other social networks. This could help.

4) Leave meaningful comments on other blogs.

5) Post, post, post, and continue to get your blog crawled.

6) Submit your posts to blog carnivals. One of the popular ones is BlogCarnival.com

7) Submit your blog to blog directories. There are many free ones online. Submit only to those that would pertain to your blogging subject.

8.) Submit your posts to online “articles” sites, such as Ezine. Most will let you include a link back to your site.

9.) Insert your URL in your emails, and company or personal correspondence, as well as on your business cards.

My thought on page rank………..,if blogging comes to worrying about page rank, count me out.

Earlier I wrote another post about page rank, it can be found here.

Category: Archives, Blogging Lessons, Linking, Page Rank  Tags: , , , , , , ,  13 Comments
24
Jul
Google Page Rank – Chasing That Elusive Dream
Barbara Swafford

Google Page Rank. If you blog, and have done any research on linking, you’ve probably read that you want incoming links to your pages from sites that have a ranking of 4 or above. This apparently, will help your Google Page Rank., which, in turn, increases your position in the search engines. It is written, that a higher position in the search engines, means more traffic to your blog. Talk about a domino effect.

It’s all about links. Should you buy links? Should you sell links? Should you beg for links?

Or……should you pursue reciprocal linking from a blog like mine–a blog that hasn’t even gotten a ranking yet? Some, will tell you “No”. I, say, “Yes”.

Here’s the philosophy behind my thinking.

I currently have a blog that has no ranking, or 0/10 on “Google’s Page Rank”. My blog, and all new blogs in their infancy, get the same ranking. But….blogs grow. Their ranking increases. So….if you link to my blog, which has a ranking of 0/10 now, and it grows, and receives a ranking of 4/10++, that will affect your ranking as well.

So, what I’m saying is, “Don’t be so shallow, and so selfish, that you won’t link to an infant blog” That could be compared to not dating a girl or guy, before they go through an “extreme makeover”. You know the ones. In high school, they were the geek or ugly duckling. You may have snubbed them, or made fun of the. Then, at your class reunion, you didn’t even recognize them, because they had gone through a transformation. Now, they’re “hot”. Maybe, rich. Or, both. Maybe they’re Bill Gates. Can you blame them, if they won’t even give you the time of day?

A new blog, is like the geek, or ugly ducking, in high school. The blog is so new to blogosphere, it doesn’t even “deserve” a ranking. How sad. But, blogs grow up. The authors may become “probloggers”. They transform, and start getting lots of attention., i.e. traffic and a higher ranking. Then….. you want some of that “link love”. But, no matter how hard you try, you can’t get any. Poor you! Maybe, you should have paid some attention to them when they were in their infancy.

Are you going to be saying, “woulda, shoulda, coulda?” when you see a new blog, mature into a well renowned blog? And, now you want a link from them? Or, are you going to start supporting blogs, in their infancy, not caring if a link to them, lowers your Google Page Rank?

Stand up! Be the “first kid on the blogk” to send some “link love” to a new blog. Go online, and find those new blogs. Give them support. Link to their blog in one of your posts.

Fast forward….years from now, you’re at that blogging convention of probloggers, and one of those “ex-newbies” (now a problogger) is speaking of how they succeeded in blogging. Your name, and your blog’s name is mentioned. What a proud moment that will be.

Spread the link love!

I set up a “page”, I’ve named “Blogging Buddies”. I provide a link back to every person (with a blog) who has left a comment, or has linked, to either this blog, or my OM blog. Want your blog added? Leave me a comment, or, share some link love with me.

Comments will be moderated, and I visit every site before posting a link on my “Blogging Buddies” page.

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Category: Archives, Lessons Learned, Linking, Page Rank, SEO  Tags: , , ,  7 Comments