Google PageRank Update Expected This Month

Google updates their PageRank once every 3-4 months. The last update was in early January, so in the next few weeks, all web sites listed in Google’s index with a significant amount of backlinks will have their PageRank updated. What is PageRank, you ask?

According to Google…

PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves “important” weigh more heavily and help to make other pages “important.”

Important, high-quality sites receive a higher PageRank, which Google remembers each time it conducts a search. Of course, important pages mean nothing to you if they don’t match your query. So, Google combines PageRank with sophisticated text-matching techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to your search. Google goes far beyond the number of times a term appears on a page and examines all aspects of the page’s content (and the content of the pages linking to it) to determine if it’s a good match for your query.

Just to give you an idea, a web site like CNN.com has a PageRank of 9. Digg has a PageRank of 8. Most blogs fall in the 3-7 PageRank. Darren Rowse (ProBlogger) has a 7. Generally, any page with a PR 4 or higher is considered “good” PageRank.

Naturally, the higher your PageRank, the more of a trusted and credible source Google attributes your site to being. Additionally, you can also charge more for text-link-ads and other private advertisements you sell. Any other blogs linked to a page with a high PageRank benefits directly from that PageRank.

There are a few PageRank prediction tools available. My favorite is from iWebTool. You can check out their PageRank prediction tool here.

My blog is predicted for a PageRank of 6 with 80% accuracy. Most likely, I will receive a 5, but if I did get a 6, that would be awesome!

Check out iWebTool’s PageRank prediction tool. What is your PageRank scheduled to be?

Update: it seems the PageRank Prediction tool is down. Go figure?