Google FakeRank – I mean PageRank Update in Progress

April 29th, 2008 | 14 comments

Google Pagerank I’m not a big fan of Toolbar PR because in most cases it’s very inaccurate, but I know people still love to talk about it I’ve got to admit, I still like to see 5 or more green pixels on my sites.

There have been a few reports of toolbar PageRank being updated and I can confirm that I’ve seen a few sites going up and down as the datacenters propagate.

So far the only tool that seems to be working is at http://www.livepr.info/livepr.php and I can’t say whether or not it’s 100% accurate, but some datacenter readings are showing accurate changes that I’ve seen.

The tool above is showing this blog at a 4 on a few datacenters (72.14.253.104 and 72.14.255.147 at the time of writing) and the main directory at a 5. This blog has been stuck at a toolbar PR of 3 nearly since it’s creation because I used to sell links. I haven’t sold links on here for quite some time, so we’ll see if it goes up to the 4-6 that it deserves.

Have you noticed any changes?

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14 comments

Stephen Cronin (34 comments.)
29th April, 2008 at 9:15 pm

Hi Josh,

Thanks for the link! I hope those values stick for you, although of course we know it’s only toolbar PR..
Mark Mason (75 comments.)
30th April, 2008 at 12:46 am

Josh — I am happy to report that MasonWorld.com has moved from PR1 to PR3! Woo hoo!
Niche Blogging (1 comments.)
30th April, 2008 at 11:25 am

Josh,

I am seeing it as a PR 4 using the SEOQuake toolbar.

I need to check my sites as well as I have been using PPP on some of them, sporadic at best, but none the less just a little worried.

Elliott
Josh Spaulding
30th April, 2008 at 3:56 pm

@ Stephen – No problem. Looks like they’ve stuck so far. Most datacenters have been updated.

@ Mark – Congrats

@ Elliott – Well the use of PPP may lower you toolbar PR, but I haven’t seen any indication that PPP or any other type of paid links lower your actual authority in Google, so shouldn’t be anything to worry about.
Maurice (The CaymanHost)
30th April, 2008 at 7:34 pm

Hi josh,

Well, I hadn’t looked but the news is not so good, I seem to have lost toolbar PR everywhere except on the blog which seems to have stayed at 3….the main site is down to 2 and the articles directory reverted to no rank at all.

I put Adsense back on those two sites since the last update LOL, maybe they don’t want me!

However, traffic is up again so I’m not complaining even if I’m toobar PR challenged.
Josh Spaulding
30th April, 2008 at 7:42 pm

@ Maurice – Well I was “toolbar PR challenged” (I like that lol) for a long while. I still believe this blog is being held down a bit. This update was good to me, but luckily for you toolbar PR is only eye candy, or an eye sore, and means nothing at all.

Internet Marketers are the only ones who look at it, so Google is offering this inaccurate “ranking” for a reason. There is definitely a hidden motive behind it.

I wish I had some advanced knowledge of the law so I could read all the fine print you have to agree with when installing their toolbar.
Abhishek (2 comments.)
30th April, 2008 at 7:55 pm

Josh,

Most of my sites have remained un-changed. some have increased PR.
That doesn’t matter ! What matter’s are the serp’s!

My lower PR sites have higher rank on serp’s than the Higher PR sites!
Josh Spaulding
30th April, 2008 at 7:56 pm

@Abhishek – Yep, it’s all about the traffic
Maurice (The CaymanHost)
30th April, 2008 at 8:53 pm

Yeah, I don’t get too anal about it if I lost the SERPS and traffic that would be a killer.

Eye candy or not, it’s a bit like being male with a small “appendage” for some and as you say, it’s much nicer to be endowed with a longer green bar than others LOL!
Dennis Edell
1st May, 2008 at 9:09 pm

I went from 2-3. I’m happy
Hendra
9th May, 2008 at 1:32 am

Thanks for the link Josh!

Yesterday i just realized that my blog goes from PR0 to PR4.
At first I didn’t believe my eyes, since i don’t do much backlink strategy,etc.
I mean, i never have intention to make my blog get high PR.
I just do normal things, nothing special strategy with my blog.

I can’t explain how i got high PR.
I think google’s PR is still a big mistery for me and many people:D

Thanks
elizajane2 (1 comments.)
26th August, 2008 at 9:30 pm

Thanks for the informative post but I have to wonder: does toolbar page rank really matter? I mean, really? Is this something the bigwigs are strongly utilizing?
Josh Spaulding
27th August, 2008 at 12:25 pm

@ elizajane2 – See this post http://www.ethicalim.com/internet-marketing/google-pagerank-and-alexa-ranking-explained/
Yoshiko (4 comments.)
28th August, 2008 at 6:24 am

I guess a lot of people have the same sentiments – Does the Google PR really matter? It’s so weird that one of my site suddenly dropped from PR4 to PR1 and another never budged from its PR4 when I really didn’t do much out of the ordinary for either sites.

So I guess, we should all channel our energies into more profitable activities to grow our sites and gain search ranking and profitability instead of squabbling over some tiny little green bars…

.. Though, I must say, it is a ego boost for any webmaster to see his Google PR rise..