The PageRank Is Coming Soon… Have You Been Preparing?

43 Comments July 11, 2007 / Posted in Business Development, SEO/SEM, The 'Net

The PageRank Is Coming Soon... Have You Been Preparing?

Even if you are not paying attention to the calendar, you can always feel it when the PageRank (PR) is coming because there is an an insatiable buzz within blogosphere and webmaster communities. Every three months (or so), Google updates it’s proprietary PageRank. PageRank is Google’s special algorithm for determining the authoritative value of sites and where they appear in the search engine results pages, otherwise known as the SERPs.

Why is the PageRank so beloved and cherished by all that is Geek? Basically, when you have a higher PageRank, you can sell your text links on it for more money. There is also a bragging factor that comes with saying “I have a PR 8,” for instance. The higher your PR, the easier it is to sell links and make money from your blog. Also true is that the higher your PageRank, the more Google considers your site to be an authority or relevant for given search terms.

Last April, I experienced my first PageRank update. Wow, was it exciting! First of all, there was probably a period of two weeks where everyone was expecting the PR to hit any day. I encountered many sleepless nights in anticipation (JK). Finally, the PR hit, and everyone seemed to be able to breathe again.

Before the last PR, I never had any sites above a PR 2, so I knew that with all the work I was putting into my blog posting and networking was bound to pay off. To my pleasant surprise, my blog was awarded with a PR 5, which I was VERY happy with. Many, if not most new blogs with a decent number of links only only hit a PR 4 on their first update. When I got my PR 5, I was able to almost instantly sell out of my text links.

Have You Been Preparing For The PageRank?

Anyone who has experienced one PR update before knows that they could have better prepared for it. What do I mean by prepared? Preparing is done by building links from other high PR sites to ensure you receive as high of a PR as possible. I have learned a lot about SEO in the past few months, and I am now more efficient at building high quality backlinks and optimizing my sites for high search rankings and relevance. Where are some good places to build links?

  • Blogroll Exchanges
  • Forums and Message Boards
  • Free Directories
  • Social News Sites (like Digg, Del.icio.us)

It’s What You Know AND Who You Know

It’s very important to have a super solid understanding of SEO in order to begin an effective link-building campaigns. This is best accomplished by reading the SEO Book from Aaron Wall. Aaron pretty much covers every single detail you need to know to be able search engine optimize any web site. I hope I made that clear - you must first fully understand SEO before just aimlessly building links.

When I first started my blog last January, I did not know anyone online. Consequently, I didn’t know where to build links and I didn’t know anyone to do link exchanges with. Thanks to my blog, I networked with and some amazing SEO folks. Several people have helped me build high quality links and provided me with great advice on how to better rank for given search phrases.

What am I saying here? Make an effort to get to know someone who is experienced in SEO or SEM. There is a lot to learn from these experienced individuals and many are happy to share their knowledge with you in exchange for link exchanges.

It’s Not Too Late

The PageRank update is still a few weeks away, so still have time to do those last minute link exchanges and directories submissions. Remember, the more links from higher quality sites, the better! Good luck!

This post was sponsored by PhotoshopStar - Free Photoshop Tutorials.

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  1. At The Bottom said on July 11th, 2007 at 6:07 am

    Any other tips you have to help PageRank, or any places for free links would be appreciated. I just started in the Web Developer niche, so I do not know all of the places to go yet (I could tell you a ton for Money sites).

    Also, if you want to trade links, I have a few of yours on my site already, but a linkback is always, always appreciated.

  2. Noah said on July 11th, 2007 at 6:53 am

    Thanks for the list of free directories! I know I love Free Stuff!

  3. ken said on July 11th, 2007 at 7:11 am

    I think it’s about time. thanks for tips up. Have to work hard on my incoming links.

  4. Erik Karey said on July 11th, 2007 at 7:19 am

    I’ve been trying to build up my PR for my new blog over the past few weeks. Having a PR0 is no fun at all. I’m hoping for a 4-5 this update. Good luck to everyone with the update.

  5. Armen said on July 11th, 2007 at 7:55 am

    A PR5 in the first update is very rare. It remains a mystery to me, how they work it out.

  6. At The Bottom said on July 11th, 2007 at 7:55 am

    My first update for my old blog, I shot up to a PR4. I am just hoping for any PR this time as my blogs are very new, with only a few linkbacks.

  7. Steve Welton said on July 11th, 2007 at 9:36 am

    Thanks to you Nate and our conversation online I am now all over it.
    I will be in touch.

    Loving the new http://www.uniqueblogdesign.com site. Way to go

  8. David Airey :: Creative Design :: said on July 11th, 2007 at 9:43 am

    So you’ll be from a 5 to an 8 this time around? ;)

    Sterling work, Nate.

  9. Make Money With Funds said on July 11th, 2007 at 10:01 am

    The last PR update somehow went by my sites,not giving them any updates… Let’s see if it’ll work this time.

  10. Russell Wagner said on July 11th, 2007 at 10:15 am

    Hey nate, I can not wait till the next PR update! In the last 3 days ive gotten around 4 PR 6 backlinks, over 10 PR 4&5 backlinks and many others. I am going crazy! I want my PR update to be 0 to 5 like yours. I hope I can pull it off.

  11. Sam Breadstone said on July 11th, 2007 at 11:09 am

    I think i’ll be lucky for PR1! I guess eventually I’ll have to start building up mega backlinks, but my blog has only been around for 6 days, ish.

  12. Angie said on July 11th, 2007 at 11:55 am

    One of my sites was actually award a fat ZERO in the last update, despite the fact that it had more backlinks and traffic than other blogs that received rank. Astonishingly, some of my inside pages, catagory pages and the About page all DID get ranked.

    I am going to admit here and now that PR is a flippin mystery to me still.

  13. Joshua said on July 11th, 2007 at 12:19 pm

    I’m hoping for a PR8 on first update. I may have some more link building to do however…:D

  14. Patrick Lee said on July 11th, 2007 at 1:11 pm

    If you just can’t wait to see what your new PageRank will be, this tool can predict it for you…

    http://www.iwebtool.com/pagerank_prediction

    And yes, PageRank is actually a decimal, but Google only reveals the integer portion to the unwashed masses.

  15. Patrick Lee said on July 11th, 2007 at 1:12 pm

    That tool says you’re dropping to 4, Nate. So either it’s no accurate or you’ll be suffering some John Chow related blowback…

  16. At The Bottom said on July 11th, 2007 at 1:35 pm

    The biggest mystery to me is how they deal with new sites. Say I have 10 new sites that all link to each other, if one gets a PR4, do they go back and rework the other 9 sites to see if it will bump those up?

  17. At The Bottom said on July 11th, 2007 at 1:36 pm

    All my sites had insufficient number of backlinks.

    You need 100 backlinks for the code to work. I think I have 10 tops …

  18. Nate Whitehill said on July 11th, 2007 at 5:58 pm

    When using that tool, make sure that for the given site, you use WWW in front of the domain or not. When you do not use the WWW in front of my name (like I have it) it shows I will remain a PR 5, but when you do use the WWW, it shows I am a PR 4.

    Do the same for John Chow and it shows him dropping to a PR 4 also.

  19. ashwin said on July 12th, 2007 at 7:41 am

    Great stuff Nate. The free directories really help.

    Im giving away $2500 on my blog.

    Check http://www.ashwinkhanna.com

  20. At The Bottom said on July 12th, 2007 at 8:11 am

    Quick note on the free directories: #2 and #3 aren’t free anymore, unless I just didn’t know where to look. I only got to #4 last night, and I plan on going through all of them for the free linkbacks.

    Thanks for the list Nate.

  21. J David said on July 12th, 2007 at 8:29 am

    Wow, I had no idea that Google updated its Pagerank that often…

  22. Joshua said on July 12th, 2007 at 12:08 pm

    In case anyone is wondering, I actually found the algorithm Google uses to measure PageRank. I’ll be selling it for the low price of $1,000,000 :D

  23. Nate Whitehill said on July 12th, 2007 at 2:01 pm

    Do you accept PayPal? ;)

  24. Deron said on July 12th, 2007 at 9:16 pm

    Good stuff Nate. I was actually wondering about this the other day. I’ve got to get working if I want to improve my page rank. Thanks for the reminder.

  25. Nate Whitehill said on July 13th, 2007 at 3:39 am

    What I wouldn’t do for a PR 8…

  26. Angie said on July 13th, 2007 at 3:32 pm

    What will those four PR6 backlinks do? Will that put you near a 5? I’m so clueless as to how everything weighs toward rank.

  27. Angie said on July 13th, 2007 at 3:35 pm

    How accurate do you feel that tool is? In the last round, I found most of my sites leveled in one rank below what it predicted. I can only hope that is not true for my newest site :(

  28. Angie said on July 13th, 2007 at 3:35 pm

    I noticed that today. WITH my www, I will bea t zero. Without, a 5 maybe.

  29. Angie said on July 13th, 2007 at 3:36 pm

    Hmmm, let me go roll some change I found here under the sofa and I’ll get back to you.

  30. David Wilkinson said on July 18th, 2007 at 12:25 am

    My first PR I ever got was PR5 - http://www.techzi.net/

  31. ForumeR said on July 21st, 2007 at 1:44 am

    Peace n howdy??
    Oo now i know, thanx for this great tips. Actually, how do you know Google will update a few weeks to go? And how we monitor the time they update??

    I’ve tagged and faved you at Technorati Train, all the best

    Technorati Train

    Hope i got response

    Best regards
    :)

  32. Simon said on July 29th, 2007 at 2:57 pm

    I can’t wait, I’ll finally be able to see if my hard work will pay off. I’m curious though, do you think that a Technorati authority of 49 is good for a 1 month and a half old blog? Anyway, I just can’t wait, I’m tired of seeing an N/A all the time.

    Great post
    Simon

  33. Charles Lau said on August 21st, 2007 at 10:02 pm

    I am waiting to see some page rank on my site soon… I have been preparing, but I think still not enough

  34. CHESSNOID said on September 3rd, 2007 at 8:17 pm

    Good post. I know it’s an old one, but I got some good info out of it. Thanks, ;)

  35. Vytas said on September 12th, 2007 at 6:34 am

    Interesting post. Are there any fixed dates when Google changes the PR’s? BTW, Nate, how can I track-back Your articles in my blogs and internet websites? I see people doing this.

  36. Discout Web Design said on October 8th, 2007 at 12:47 am

    When will the next page rank update happens?

  37. Mike Touch said on February 27th, 2008 at 3:43 pm

    I guess Google becoming strict on paid for links will decrease the importance of Page Rank.

    It seems like a number that is just thrown about. Even though you can still do well with low page rank a lot of people become obsessed with it!

  38. John said on May 1st, 2008 at 10:42 am

    Mike, we all think Google panelized link sellers, yeah that’s right, but still i found Google take time to identify paid links for the websites.
    And giving higher pr.
    if some one buy links at one of the best blog which has almost every page high pr and in the footer of each page the link placed, Google should identify it…
    Google punishing cheap sellers, i think it loves high link sellers

  39. Internet Age said on May 17th, 2008 at 7:20 am

    More links, its what everyone says, more quality links and we are not allowed to buy. Will try the Free Directory link. Thank you. Dont have a blog yet so cant do the blogroll exchange. Thank you.

  40. Stanium said on June 19th, 2008 at 1:03 am

    There are still PR4 and higher FREE directories left?! Thanks for the list! *rushed out to prepare for the update*

  41. [...] Have you been preparing for the next Google Page Rank update? If not, it is not to late so head over to Nate Whitehill’s blog and read his article on it. [...]

  42. [...] buzz in the air about a Google PageRank update in the works, now is the time to get some incoming links and boost your PR! It’s really pretty simple: [...]

  43. PageRank Update Underway? | Nate Whitehill dot Com said on May 3rd, 2008 at 4:48 am

    [...] Every blogger can do things to increase the chances of them receiving a higher PageRank update. Almost a year ago, I wrote on article on how to prepare for a PageRank update. [...]

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