It looks like my Google Page Rank is all shot to $hit after the most recent New Years gift that Google decided to hand out by doing another Google PR update, something many bloggers were speculating and buzzing about earlier in the week. Those of you bloggers that are new to blogging and don’t really know what Google Page Rank is or what Google Page Rank updates are you can check out Google Page Rank information for more info. If you haven’t ever taken the time to check your Google Page Rank take a second to do it so you know where your current Page Rank is.
Those of you that have been visiting my blog for a while or that subscribe to my rss feed might remember that I was screaming like a baby after the last Google PR update because Extreme John stayed at a Google Page Rank 4, for some reason I thought I might get lucky enough to hit Google Page Rank 5. It looks like Google might have read my post and answered by lowering my Google Page Rank from a PR4 to a PR3, something that happens to the best of them and something that is pretty funny especially when my traffic continues to go through the roof.
Personally now that this blog is back sitting as a Google PR3 it’s not a subject I feel like talking about much, haha. In reality Google Page Rank is only important to the individual that decides to monitor where Google has them ranked. Many blogs or websites that see a drop in Google PR also see significant traffic increases and increased Search Engine results, it just goes to show that even as exciting as tracking Google PR might be it’s hardly the most important thing in the world.
5 Reasons Google Page Rank Drops
Every blog is different and there is really no sure fire way to figure out exactly what caused your blog or website Page Rank to drop, these are just a few of the reasons I feel that might have my PR to drop.
1. Bad Neighborhood
This blog went through a massive growth period that lasted through all of 2009, along with that instant growth came spammers and spam comments. All though I monitor all of my blog comments there are certainly a few comments or linked comment author names that lead to a few bad neighberhoods (blogs/websites).
2. Server Hacked
A few months ago the server that Extreme John.com resides on was hacked, this specific domain was not hacked but one of the domains that also reside on this server was hacked, the result was a 24 hour Google red flag. Mike from Daily Shot of Coffee mentioned that this might have been one of the causes and a temporary smack of some sort, it sounded good to me so I’m going with it.
3. Inconsistent Blog Updates
Towards the end of the year I really started to rip it up with multiple updates on a daily basis, I have never been really big at holding posts back and scheduling them far out in advance, instead I prefer to release them as I write them. I don’t think doing more daily updates has anything to do with it, I think the fact that my typical midnight update often occurred at 11pm or at times 3am, perhaps not having that specific midnight update like I did in the past had something to do with it.
4. No Specific Content Niche
I blog about everything from business tips to blogging tips and information on indoor tanning, don’t forget I also write posts about MMA and social networking. It’s nice to have a blog that I can post whatever I feel like posting, one disadvantage is that this blog doesn’t really have a specific niche.
5. Don’t Blog for SEO
When it comes to writing blog posts on my blog I rarely try to attack specific key words or key phrases or work for any type of Search Engine Optimization, I write how I feel like writing about various things without a specific target in mind for each post. In other words I don’t blog for SEO, I blog for my readers.
Leave a comment with how the most recent Google Page Rank update effected your blog or website.
Cole Stan (2)
KyAus @ Those.Tips (2)
SafariDave (2)
{ 73 comments… read them below or add one }
yes you are right.. most of the good webmasters wont bother about Google PR but still many company considers google PR for any advertisement campaign.
Kevin S @Free Vector Graphics´s last blog ..Visiting Card Wordpress Theme
@Kevin S @Free Vector Graphics, there’s not doubt that it’s a piece of the pie, regardless of what piece it might be.
Too bad to hear that as I told you before, but sometimes we really don’t know what causes the pagerank drops, only Google knows. In my view, it doesn’t matter if the blog has low pagerank if the owner doesn’t urge to make money. For me right now, I’m neutral about pagerank, it hangs at PR3 for a year or more.
I hope on the next pagerank updates Google will give you a PR5 or at least PR4.
All the best John!
Cheers,
Lee
@Lee Ka Hoong@Make Money Blogging, haha don’t sweat it bro there’s nothing to be sorry about. Control the things in life you can control, the rest is a waste of energy.
@Extreme John, haha you’re right. Many things in this world can’t be controlled, but we can just try to avoid them. Just do whatever you can right now, as usual. Your PR4 or PR5 will be coming back shortly. :D
These are remarkable tips. I agree that whatever you are doing to get high PR like blog commenting, article writing or anything else. It should be done in your niche because it assures maximum chance to increase backlinks.
I would’ve loved to see my PR update gone up during the last update, but I’m okay with it staying the same. My SE traffic has gone thru the roof over the past few months, even though my PR hasn’t changed. In other words, they can do whatever they want to the visible PR as long as they keep sending me that traffic.
Mike @DailyShotOfCoffee´s last blog ..Vanilla Hazelnut from Honey Bean Coffee Review
@Mike @DailyShotOfCoffee, exactly. Keep sending the traffic keep the pretty PR numbers lined up however you want ;)
@Mike @DailyShotOfCoffee, P.s. on a side note the minute the bitch hits a PR5 be ready for me to scream and shout about it. Haha.
@Extreme John, hahaha PR5…I think your next jump will be to like a 6.
Mike @DailyShotOfCoffee´s last blog ..GanoCafe Tongkat Ali Review
@Mike @DailyShotOfCoffee, yeah ok. Imagine that.
Both my sites stayed the same, traffic is steadily increasing though, so screw google!
Keith@Need Information´s last blog ..Add Multiple Feeds to Facebook Fan Page
@Keith@Need Information, I wrote a post something along the lines of screw Google a while back. Haha.
Sorry to hear about your PageRank drop – but hey, if you didn’t get a drop, you wouldn’t have posted that awesome “PageRank being shot”-picture :D
I was lucky enough to get from PR2 to PR3, but I don’t care much about PR. I’m happy to stay at PR3 though.
Klaus @ TechPatio´s last blog ..Linux, Windows & Mac – As Seen By Fanboys
@Klaus @ TechPatio, that picture is pretty hot isn’t it ;)
Thanks Dawn!
John,
A website can actually rank lower if not updated that much.
You don’t have to write about a Specific Content Niche to have a high.Not true my dear. ;-)
PR is determined by incoming links to your website.
One of the biggest reason your PR most likely dropped is for the same reason mine did- a decrease in authority- websites linking to you.
I recommend reading “Google’s Patent Application.” It explains a lot. It’s a long read but really worth it.
Rose´s last blog ..Google Ranking Factors
@Rose, my point wasn’t so much that not writing about a niche will give you lower PR, it was that specific writing in a specific niche will certainly cause PR to soar and change accordingly.
As for the sites linking in to my site, that number continues to grow and has so that wouldn’t be the reason behind the drop or at least I don’t believe it would be.
Your comments always include information, I appreciate that greatly and I’m sure that the rest of the community appreciates your input as well. Thank you for always taking the time to leave a great comment.
@Extreme John,
You didn’t say that though. You said “No Specific Content Niche” and mentioned how “you” write about a variety of topics, which may have caused your PR to drop.
I was pointing out that blogging about a variety of topic wouldn’t cause a PR decline.
You only have 120 backlinks in Google.
Of course Google takes into factor the authority of those links, the freshness of the links and a bunch of other factors.
Google indicates that it is better if link growth remains constant and slow.
Google is also changing how it ranks websites. It’s about to launch Google Caffeine, which takes many things in to factor like: Broken links, site speed, Bad neighborhoods, and the over-all quality of your website.
I blogged about it today!
Rose´s last blog ..Google patent and ranking
@Rose, you are correct. However blogging about various topics on a consistent basis won’t help your PR climb thats for sure.
@Extreme John, Unless people are linking to those posts.
Oh well.. Just blog about what you want to blog about. You have lots of comments so you must be doing something right.
Rose´s last blog ..Broken Link Checker
Sorry to hear that John. But yes I also prefer SERP over PR and of course traffic. Now we are both PR3 as Google didn’t promote my blog but nor penalized…lolz.
ZXT´s last blog ..Blog Monthly Stats
@ZXT, haha don’t be sorry to hear about it bro, it’s more of a laughing point than anything. Traffic is where it’s at and has always been at ;)
@ZXT,
I can see your traffic still improves even though you already have plenty
ZXT´s last blog ..Golden Boy Mediation Meeting Transcript
@ZXT, there is never enough traffic.
I am feeling you on this John as was fuuly expecting a pr 4 and bumped down to pr 2. In the meantime my traffic has soared, my Alexa ranking continues to drop and my adsense earnings have doubled. Go figure!
Tycoon blogger @promote your blog´s last blog ..Need Twiends? Get more twitter followers free
@Tycoon blogger @promote your blog, exactly more reasons to not sweat the Google Page Rank thing. It’s a fun tool and it’s a piece of the the pie, but hardly anything that would make me break into a fit of tears haha.
Personally I could care less about PR. All I care about is where I rank in the SERPS.
Matt@Atlanta Real Estate´s last blog ..Details on New Tax Credit Extension
John,
Having multiple topics can be handled with multiple feeds. For example, I don’t read your UFC articles, no interest. So it would be nice if I could subscribe to a feed not having those.
This would make it easier for me to link into your articles, less distraction.
Dave Doolin @ Website In A Weekend´s last blog ..Top 3 Social Media Bookmarking Services – Don’t leave home without them
@Dave Doolin @ Website In A Weekend, I never thought of doing the multiple feeds. I use the Feedly feed reader, when I see a blog’s stream I just kill anything that doesn’t interest me.
Write a post about doing different feeds, tutorial baby!
Hey John,
I think it’s funny that when I did a post about my page rank (almost) everyone told me not to worry about it. Even on Twitter they were telling me to leave the topic alone yada, yada, yada.
They must be a little cautious about saying that to you – must be the straightjacket. lol
I love what you said about not caring about SEO either. Thank you for saying that. No one else will (except me).
Cool blog post – thanks.
ileane´s last blog ..Google Page Rank on a WordPress.com Blog
@ileane, I have no problem saying it to John.
John, don’t worry about Pagerank. Pay it no mind. Forget about it.
Rose´s last blog ..Google patent and ranking
@Rose, haha thank you Rose. I have no worries about it, I think it’s funny. I am starting to think that I need to do more videos so people can see the look on my face while I write some of these things. It’s all fun.
@ileane, haha well thank you for saying thank you
As for the Page Rank, it’s like anything else in life. Either you find it a challenge and fun, hate it or spend way too much time worrying about it to the point that it effects other things that you need to do.
Ultimately it is what it is…… show me the traffic and SERPS. haha
You admit you don’t write for SEO, John, and I don’t read your blog because it has this or that pagerank… so what’s the point of this post, really?
Ari Herzog@Online Media Strategies´s last blog ..Reflecting on My Twitter Sabbatical, 1 Week In
@Ari Herzog@Online Media Strategies,
LOL, I am in agreement with Ari, I don’t know how many blog posts I have read about people ranting about PageRank and how they don’t care about PageRank but then they always seem to post about it when the PageRank changes come out. Why waste the digital space, why not post about something more interesting…. like ligers.
@Web Your Name®, that’s because I blog about interesting topics everyday, writing about Google Page Rank is a walk in the park and generates traffic. Thats why
@Extreme John, So, Page Rank is an interesting topic for you like ligers could be. Got it.
Ari Herzog@Online Media Strategies´s last blog ..Commenter or Lurker: Which Blog Participant Are You?
@Ari Herzog@Online Media Strategies, I guess if ligers are your thing they are your thing, as for the Google Page Rank and writing about it there is a reason and purpose behind everything I do and post here, everything has intent.
In the case of this post, the intent was to use the cool Google Page Rank graphic being shot image and let some of the bloggers that read my blog know that it’s not the biggest thing to worry about.
Maybe you have no interest, but someone that reads it will. Maybe…. haha.
@Web Your Name®, OK, I had to look up “ligers” LOL
Keith@Need Information´s last blog ..Social Media – An Addiction
I saw several blogs I frequent go from 4 to a 3. I wonder if something in their algorithm changes so that general blogs got rated lower than more specialized sites.
I went from 4 to a 3 but I was shocked that I got up as high as 4 in the first place
However my traffic is up.
This is why many say PR isn’t important. I don’t by that. I believe there is simply a lag time in the PR that is showing. I bet internally Google has my site at a higher PR than is showing on the toolbar and that is why my traffic is up.
Ned Carey´s last blog ..1099s Are Due! Have You Sent Yours Out?
@Ned Carey, you might have a very good point Ned. I’m sure Google doesn’t make everything public ;)
Having your PR drop because blogs don’t keep their content updated isn’t your fault… but it does keep you on your toes. You have to get out there and constantly be posting comments and gaining new and fresh backlinks!
Destiny Islands´s last blog ..Destiny Islands Update!
@Destiny Islands, your exactly right. Thank you for taking the time to comment
Most of my sites stayed the same. One jumped two points and another dropped from 4 to 3, like this one. I know exactly why it dropped, though, and anticipated it. I started using TLA on that site. I knew PR would drop, but (1) I don’t care much and (2) the money is worth it.
We have to look at opportunity cost and see what our priorities are.
Alison Moore Smith@Start Blogging in 1 Week´s last blog ..Traffic Tutorial: Add Your Blog to Kindle
@Alison Moore Smith@Start Blogging in 1 Week, if the money increases who really cares if their PR is even a 0 at that point. Keep the funds rollin.
@Extreme John, That’s my thought exactly. There are a few times it matters — mostly when OTHER people think PR is significant.
Most people who pay for specific blogs or keyword links, for example, base pay scale on PR.
Alison Moore Smith@Start Blogging in 1 Week´s last blog ..Traffic Tutorial: Add Your Blog to Kindle
Ironically the blog I’m moving everything to lost the 1 it was holding for like 2yrs. lol
Dennis Edell´s last blog ..7 DAYS ONLY – ProBloggers-31 Days To Build A Better Blog- + 3 Awesome Bonuses!
@Dennis Edell, go figure right?
@Extreme John, It even made it through at least 1 update totally void of content as I was switching things around. LOL
I think a lot of bloggers saw a drop in the New Year’s updates. I would have thought that your more frequent updates would have been helpful, as Google seems to like updated sites.
Honestly, you really don’t need PR. You have a rocking blog with lots of loyal readers and commenters… that is more of a success than just a high PR and 0 comments!
Kikolani´s last blog ..How Blog Commenting Has Made a Difference
@Kikolani, thank you Kristi I appreciate that. All though having a hot little number like 9 would make one feel good mentally.
@Extreme John, Yes, I agree to Kristi. If you have loyal readers who don’t care much of PR and just want to comment on your good articles then you really don’t need to think of pagerank much.
Typhoon@make money online´s last blog ..Membership Sites – Great Way For Recurring Online Income
You forgot the most important reason for a PR drop John. Google doesn’t know what the fudge it’s doing.
Sire@WassupBlog´s last blog ..The Honest Truth About Blogging For Money
@Sire@WassupBlog, might be a very good point orrrrrrrr (
laugh) they know exactly what they are doing 
@Extreme John, Damn, that could be true too. Oh well, at least they have one good point, Adsense.
Sire@WassupBlog´s last blog ..The Honest Truth About Blogging For Money
Another reason could simply be that you had 2-3 great posts which recieved tons of backlinks and then they stopped for some reason. This could be because of inconsistent blog updates as you mentioned, but it can also be because of a different types of posts.
Stefan´s last blog ..Terry Robinson: A Renaissance Man
I have two sites, the one with the least amount of traffic has bounced between a PR of 2 and 3 for a few years. The other site gets 4x the amount of traffic and has a much more focused niche yet has a PR of zero!
Who knows what google is thinking, I just enjoying working and writing on my sites, on my scheduled.
benwaynet´s last blog ..windows 2008 and dotNET framework
@benwaynet, exactly. Having control over your time is a big life plus and a massive plus for anyone that blogs full time.
I have just got an page rank.After that my backlinks has become less,hope i will not lose my pagerank after next update…
Ajeet@facebook status update´s last blog ..What is Facebook Bra colour status update?
my page rank dropped from 3 to 2 and i guess it covers some of your reasons, i update in-consistently, but still update it many times a week. but the real reason must be the hacking attempts it faced, i knew something was wrong, and i cleaned up the infected files, it was down a little but i managed to get it up quickly before anyone could notice,
did a full re-install of the blog, and cleaned some files again which got infected somehow… all this did not affected the readers much, but it must have got into the google’s eye and they took me a step down in pr, but its ok, am sure in the next update it might go up again…
wish you the same as well, hope extream john makes a pr5, or better a pr6, who knows what google might give next, personally i feel extream john is worth a pr6 anyday,
Uttoran Sen´s last blog ..10 Gadgets that Changed the World and Life
I believe that Google has been, for a year or two, using public “page rank” that is not the same as their real page rank. They seem to focus especially behavior they don’t like in this (so they punish the public page rank but they don’t want to show less useful results so they don’t adjust the search results). From what I read bad neighborhood type behavior reduces not just public page rank but search rank (so likely Google’s real page rank). I think the reduction in many blogs page rank is two fold – one Google reducing public page rank and second Google tweaking the real page rank. For several years blogs had pretty skewed page rank compared to comparable web sites that were not blogs.
A post of mine on this from 2007 http://curiouscatlinks.blogspot.com/2007/11/googles-displayed-pagerank.html
John @ Curious Cat Management Blog´s last blog ..Undercover Boss – Will They Really Change?
I have noticed on thing in the latest PR update…Many new blogs got very high page rank while the old blogs had a PR drop or a very small rise. One of my friend who started a blog just 30-40 days back got a pr hike of 5. I just couldn’t believe it. I think there is something wrong on Google’s part..Lets see..Hope that you get PR4 or 5 in the next update…I will work for a better PR too.. Good luck.
Rohit Sane@SEO Tips´s last blog ..My 3 Biggest SEO mistakes of 2009
If your blog is dofollow then you will have to work more harder in building backlinks to keep that Pagerank same or increase in next update..
Typhoon´s last blog ..Membership Sites – Great Way For Recurring Online Income
@Typhoon, Sorry man, that is a total falsehood. I have a friend that has been testing with a site that only has 6 backlinks, and 100′s of do-follow links out and he has several pages that are PR4 (internal pages even) and lots of PR3′s on that site.
I am starting to believe that google is worrying less about how many backlinks you have and are looking also at whether you link out with relevant information to help the reader find what they are looking for…
We will see though, if his site gets a 5 or 6 on the next update I might have to change my strategies!
Keith@Need Information´s last blog ..Sunday Funnies – 1-17-10
@Keith@Need Information, I really can’t believe at that. How do you know that his website is having only 6 Backlinks?
Would you like to tell me his URL?
@Typhoon, I know him personally, and it is easy enough to look at links pointing to any site. He has been experimenting with changing his linking for several months and it helped in this last update.
Point is, backlinks are only one of over 200 factors, and I think Google is looking less at that because of the “comment on blogs, find do-follow forums and social bookmarking sites to get PR” SEO experts.
Content is going to play much more of a factor and links less of a factor in the future.
Sorry, can’t reveal the site as he wishes to remain anonymous….
Keith@Need Information´s last blog ..Pop Ups On Your Blog
@Keith@Need Information, Yeah, I agree content plays some role.
If you have been looking at his backlinks through this method: link:www.extremejohn.com
then, I would say that this method will never show the number of backlinks a website is having. To get those numbers, only your Google Webmaster account can help you in that.
From all those 200 Factors, Backlinks still pays a very big role amongst Top 3 Factors and thus helps improve PR.
Recently, I have been working for a client who is having a business website about web hosting. In past two weeks, I have brought his website for a very competitive keyword from 236th Rank to rank 13th without any use of spam techniques. I just brought him some 50-60 backlinks. And, actually a business website(like hostgator) really don’t need to focus on content. They just have to create attractive pages for customers with some keywords related to their business on the pages..
Typhoon´s last blog ..Membership Sites – Great Way For Recurring Online Income
Main factor your pagerank dropped isn’t based on Google’s opinion. It dropped because some of your old backlinks are dead or less important. Some sites that used to link to you no longer exist. Some sites that link to you now have lower pagerank so their link juice to your site is lower as well.
-Kai
Kai@seo´s last blog ..Keywords That Sell
Wow. Going from 4 expecting a 5 to downgrade to 3 must be pretty tough… Personally, I think 1 and 4 are the most possible reasons for it, but Google is quite a black box really.
Something happen last time (couple of days ago) becasue I have noticed that a lot of blogs PR fallen down.
I have not experienced any drop in page rank, but I have experienced the page rank disappearing entirely. After some time, the page rank came back. I think it is a glitch in the system.
@Typhoon, Regardless of the method you use (I tend to use Yahoo site explorer) to check links, he doesn’t have very many, and he is purposely doing this to test his theory.
The sheer fact that he has hundreds more links going out than he has coming in is what amazes me that he is able to get internal PR4′s using this method.
I am 95% sure he has less than 75 backlinks and his outgoing links are only to sites that are higher authority, as a matter of fact he is contacting sites that have linked to him to remove them so he can further his research. I can’t wait for it to be completed after next update so I can write an article about it.
Keith@ Hot Blog Tips´s last blog ..Drooling On PageRank
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