Archive for the ‘Backlinks’ Category

Google, BackRub, Backlinking, and the Link Hunting Obsession that Takes Its Toll

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

Google is currently one of the dominant entities on the net period. The question is – is it really that omnipotent, is it really that advantageous. The question is ? IS IT REALLY “ALL THAT”.

To understand role of Google in the modern net society we need to go deep into its roots. Google was born at hands of Larry Page (rich boy) and perfected by Sergey Brin (russian rich boy) at Stanford University. The idea was to rank internet pages based on number of other pages linking back. For Brin it was sort of academic approach to web page ranking where web page would model for academic paper and back links it receives would model for number of citations that academic paper accounts for. Very interesting model indeed and in a sense is very useful in the academics; bus is this model as useful in the world of internet information ranking? Does this formula objectively represent the way any given website or webpage should be ranked among other competitors? Let me be the first one to disagree.

The Google that we are all using now is a very different Google that it used to be. Thanks to brains of Brin it has evolved from simply counting backward links to an algorithm that is protected better than our troops on a foreign soil. However, the basic idea is still the same and ranking is given based on number of links your site receives from other relevant sources. So what is the problem, you might ask. Lets imagine that you have created a brand new website that centers on certain topic of interest. Lets imagine that you are an expert in that topic and you have created the best website ever on that particular topic: it covers more information than any other source on the net, it offers simplicity in navigation, it offers largest and well organized library of sources on that particular topic, it complies with w3 standards, and it even can be seen in any browser in the world including all the hand held devices. That perfect site which would be very useful to many individuals around the world would end up at the bottom of the Google ranking system unless you spend countless hours trying to get links from relevant sites, trying to pay for fraudulent looking link services, getting frustrated, and still ending up at the bottom of the Google ranking system because some of your competitors have figure out a way to create numerous doorway pages, link scams, and so on. Just because your perfect site does not account for a large number of backwards links will bring your ranking down and will bring down with it all your hard work and desire to share your expertise with others. Some day you Google up that perfect site’s key word, that common sensed key word that should bring your perfect site at the top of the search results. You look at the results and you realize that there is nothing but bunch of irrelevant pages full of advertising and its all due to the fact that some geeks know how to beat the system. Now you tell me ? is that a fare way of ranking pages?

Google and its strategy brought plenty of hardship to ordinary website owners. Instead of updating and perfecting their sites owners have to hunt for links using all available means. Most of the time site owners are getting trapped into services that are questionable in nature. This environment creates numerous pitfalls for web surfers as well. Web surfers become victims of doorway pages with meaningless and countless key word links, smart redirect pages that throw you to places full of ads, and bad websites that managed to get gazillions links using their questionable techniques. All that commotion creates nothing but bad experience for anyone who is in search of information on the internet. Is that how the search engine should work, is that how omnipotent search engine should work, is that how billions making search engine should work?

Controversial Active Blogger http://www.theartofad.com

Google – PR & Backlinks

Monday, February 18th, 2008

Here are some observations that I have made recently:

1. On several of my own sites, I have some pages with zero page rank despite having links pointing to them PR 5 pages on the same site. These pages are now 2-3 months old. Shouldn’t they have PR by now?

2. Most of these pages rank well despite the apparent PR 0.

3. Doing searches on Google show up a lot of anomalies. Many top ranking pages have PR 0.

For example, go to http://www.prsearch.net/

This is that great search tool I mentioned last week which gives you the PR and backlinks of the search results. Do a search for Bratz dolls..

Here are the top 10 sites when I search:

#1 PR 6 Backlinks – 151

#2 PR 7 Backlinks – 5

#3 PR 0 Backlinks – 18

#4 PR 4 Backlinks – 2

#5 PR 0 Backlinks – 0

#6 PR 0 Backlinks – 0

#7 PR 0 Backlinks – 0

#8 PR 0 Backlinks – 0

#9 PR 6 Backlinks – 46

#10 PR 0 Backlinks – 11

4. Backlinks at Google don’t tally with known backlinks. This has been reported a lot in various publications recently. Google use to only show backlinks from PR 4 or more sites, but it has been reported that backlinks from lower PR sites are showing and backlinks from some higher PR sites seem to be missing.

Reading through these observations, it is clear that something is going on.

It might look at first glance that PR is not being updated since lots of pages which should have PR don’t. I don’t think this is the case, and I will explain in a moment what I believe is going on. However, before we do that, let’s consider some of the other stuff listed above.

Look at those top 10 results again.

How can it be that 6 pages with PR 0 rank in the top 10 for a competitive term?

Also, how can it be that some of those PR 0 pages don’t have PR, yet they do have backlinks? Look at position 10. PR 0 yet 11 backlinks reported by Google. Go look at those backlinks and they all have PR 0 as well. So is Google now reporting backlinks from pages that are PR 0?

It all seems very weird, yet I believe the answer to this is very simple. Google has not updated the Google Toolbar for some time, yet in its own database, PR is largely up to date. This means that pages that appear to have a PR 0 may in fact have much higher PR.

From a webmasters point of view, this is a real pain. Imagine putting up a site, adding a page to get some link partners, but not getting any PR on the links page for several months. You contact other webmasters for a link exchange, but the other webmasters ignore your request because you are PR 0!

Could it be that Google have decided to update the Google Toolbar far less frequently, or not at all, so that webmasters cannot find out the true PR of pages in the index?

If so, why would they do this?

Google use to show only backlinks from pages with PR 4 or more, yet now appear to show backlinks from pages with much less PR, even PR 0. Does this mean that Google have changed their policy on which pages they show as backlinks?

Possibly, though doesn’t it make more sense that Google still only shows PR 4 pages as backlinks, but since PR on the toolbar has not been updated, we see these backlinks as significantly less PR than they actually are?

For any search engine to return the most relevant results possible, those engines must try to stop webmasters using techniques that get their web pages better rankings. For Google, this includes manipulating PR.

Google state this clearly in their Program Policies for use for Adsense advertising.

Read through the section “Site Content” and look at the last point in the bullet list. Google specifically mentions PR manipulation. If Google is applying these rules to Adsense advertising, does it not make sense that they also apply these rules in their algorithms?

If Google is trying to:

a) prevent reverse engineering of its algorithm, and b) prevent webmasters from using techniques that might get a webpage ranked higher than it deserves based on its content,

Then surely, not updating the PR on the toolbar is a good thing for Google.

In doing so, it makes it very difficult:

a) for webmasters to find out why top ranking pages rank so well, and b) for webmasters to get links from other webmasters (which is a way of manipulating PR and increasing rankings).

I know Google want to make their engine the best it possibly can be, and they should be applauded for that. It makes it easier for searchers to find things of relevance. I believe that the whole idea of Pagerank was based on the premise that quality sites would get links from other sites because of their quality, not because of artificial linking like link exchanges. Link exchanges have just gotten out of hand and made a mockery of the Pagerank idea.

So what can you do about it? Well, my suggestion is the same as always. Add quality content to your sites. Other sites will naturally link to yours because your site offers value to THEIR visitors. In addition, write some quality articles and submit them with your own resource box that links back to your site. Submit these to sites that reprint articles, and you will naturally grow your own backlinks and PR through quality content. Your rankings will improve, and Google should love your site for the value it adds to the internet.

For details on how to use Articles for better rankings, why not re-read the fr.ee report available to my newsletter subscribers.

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Andy Williams is author of the free, ezSEO
internet marketing newsletter, offering subscribers up-to-date
information on all aspects of internet marketing.
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