For those of you not yet aware, Google is currently updating the PageRank they are displaying in their toolbar. Each update causes a stir among the SEO community and webmasters trying to get their websites to the top of the Google Rankings.
Famous Google engineer Matt Cutts has confirmed a mini-update is occurring at the moment on the world’s number one search engine and over the next few days new pagerank and backlinks will be added to the mix.
While there is no specific time period between updates, Google in the past has updated PageRank on average every 3-6 weeks. As of current update, it had been approximately three weeks since the last update and anxious WebProWorld members had even started a thread predicting the next update when they began to notice changes.
Already it is possible to see a few changes in the search index; it will be towards the end of this week before the full picture emerges.
With every mini-update there are sites that go up and sites that simply disappear off the face of the planet. Google seems to like doing the latter for the real estate, Internet marketing and financial sectors these days!
Matt Cutts says on his rather nice blog:
Just to give you a heads-up, I think a new set of backlinks and possibly PageRank will probably be visible relatively soon; I’m guessing within the next few days. I still expect some flux after that though, just to let you know.
When he says flux, he means – watch out, that is when we REALLY start to shake things about.
I think they are Google playing with our minds again, said a Best Practices Search Engine Forum moderator.
Several of the industry’s leading forums are abuzz, discussing the results of this update. In this WebmasterWorld discussion a member reported ‘seeing some sites that were previously blocked from passing PageRank passing again.’
Shortly before the update, some SEOChat members began to notice the Google spiders crawling deeper into their sites. Datacenter fluctuations and strange results were also noticed by at least one member, who reported "three different rankings on three different tools" as well as old data showing up in results.
Meanwhile, some members of the Best Practices Search Engine Forum noticed a dip in the number of reported backlinks, while others noticed an increase. It almost appears to be a delayed backlink visible update without an actual update in the stored data, said Matt Peskett, Managing Director, Firetop Limited.
In related news, some sites have finally been lifted from the messy sandbox Google placed on the site around a year ago.
Changes were not so obvious for some people.
Not all of the datacenters have fully updated, so many people are not seeing the update yet, said a WebProWorld member who goes by the handle ‘jestep.’ It will probably take a few days to fully update across all of the datacenters.
It is funny how we now drool and waiting for the frequent Google updates, said SEOChat member Alexander Fry.
PageRank Mania? Although many people are now reporting higher PageRank, Dave Hawley of http://www.ozgrid.com warns, I would not get too excited. PageRank is only one of many factors…
Over at Jimworld, a member commented: There is a connection between PageRank and search engine results pages but I guess it’s secondary to site content. However, every little bit helps right?
While you are drooling, you might want to check out the Future PR Tool. It works by running queries on the Google datacenters and searches for changes in PageRank. By querying the datacenters during an update, you might get a glimpse of any upcoming changes in your site’s PR values the site claims.