Tag: Google

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Google Toolbar PageRank Indicator is Bogus

I have several customers who monitor their website’s Google Toolbar PageRank. In fact, they do not take action on links unless the site has a favorable Google Toolbar PageRanking.

First off, it is important to understand that Google does not show your real organic PageRank in the Google Toolbar. Additionally, the PageRank in the Google Toolbar is not the same as PageRank on Google.com. Confused yet?

Here are the quick notes you should remember about the Google Toolbar PageRank indicator:

  • PageRank changes by page and not by website.
  • Each time Google crawls your site your Google.com PageRank may change.
  • For each search query entered on Google.com, Google delivers the pages in order of true PageRank not Toolbar PageRank.
  • Toolbar PageRank is not the same as PageRank.
  • Google does not show the real PageRank for any site so as to prevent SEO firms from working the system.
  • I have found that Google updates Toolbar PageRank infrequently sometimes once in six months.
  • A Toolbar PageRank of three could not carry the same real world Google PageRank as other three rated sites, there are more factors at play.
  • A high Toolbar PageRank does not mean a high Google.com PageRank.
  • You can probably now disable your Google Toolbar if you were using it for SEO position referencing.

I have found a terrific article at The Search Engine Journal that really digs deeper into this topic and would highly recommend that you read it. It debunks some of the misconceptions webmasters and website owners have had about the importance of the Google Toolbar PageRank. I personally do not use the Google Toolbar PageRank indicator for any decisions about my own website.

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Add a Star or +1 on Your Google Searches to Share What You Like

Google has made some pretty cool updates on their search engine recently namely the +1 and the star option. These new enhancements to personalized your search results allow you to highlight what you like and then share the information with others in your social network.

As for stars, you don’t have to keep track of the things you star, Google does. In fact when you star something Google synchs it with your Google Bookmarks and Google Toolbar. Once you star something, the item will appear at the top of your search window allowing you to find the information you want to revisit quickly.

Google says: “With stars, you can simply click the star marker on any search result or map and the next time you perform a search, that item will appear in a special list right at the top of your results when relevant,”

Pretty cool! With stars you are actually ordering your search results the way you want! I am seeing stars now on my Google.com search pages already. Another thing Google rolled out recently was the +1. Now this enhancement I have not seen yet, but it looks powerful. The +1 is kind of like stars on steroids. Here, your social network will be able to see what you have +1’ed. Websites will even be able to add +1 buttons almost like Facebook Like buttons.

What I find interesting about both new enhancements is that Google will be using this aggregate information to move search results higher on the Google.com organic placement page. Based on that information, you’ll want to keep an eye on stars and +1 activity as this new technology matures and becomes more widely used on the Web.

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Get An Early Invitation to the Google +1 Website Button

Plus-OneDon’t be left behind, you can use our link to be an early embracer of the Google +1 website button. Google announced this past week that it would be rolling out this new enhancement to allow you to +1 website searches and share them within your Google social network, but now you can get on the waiting list to be an early embracer of +1 for your website.

To find out how the +1 button works you can watch the video from Google. Google says that not only will the +1 be seen on search results on Google.com but will even appear on search ads that you or others in your network have clicked. +1 allows you to receive a personal recommendation from others in your network, which we know will carry more weight in regards to buying decisions.

Personally I feel that the +1 button is big news and will be an early embracer of the technology. Google has also stated that the aggregate information supplied via the +1 button will impact organic search results. So get in the queue before others do, visit our link to get an early invitation for the +1 button for your website now.

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Google is Picking Up Facebook Reviews

I wanted to give you an update from my blog post this past week on what is happening with Google indexing reviews on Facebook. Today, I found one of my test pages in the Google.com search results but not the other.

In just a few days I have found that Google has picked up the page with my hreview HTML tags hand coded and inserted into an FBML page, but not the page that has Facebook reader reviews. Although this may not be a definitive answer yet, as it is still pretty early in the test, the results are interesting.

I’ll keep you posted on my results as I do further testing. In the meantime if you want to read the full blog post and be a part of my test check out this blog.