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Google Changes the Game — 10 Sites Hit in October . . . Now Look

Filed Under Successful Blog, Technorati, Tools | 13 Comments

NOT Just a PageRank Update

The Living Web

Every Monday, I check in to see how the web world is treating me. It seems that Technorati has left me out in the cold . . . my 180-day archives have been only 60-90 days deep for over a year now. When I wrote last week, no one answered. . . .

But it’s looking like Google may be having a change of heart . . . We could have a mutually-beneficial relationship again. Something more than a PageRank update is definitely going on. PageRank seems to be getting an entirely new definition.

  • I see it in my backlinks.
  • I see in new site links for Successful-Blog.
  • I see it in the way my SERPs are playing out and in the Webmaster tools information being reported.
  • I see it a change in PageRank for LizStauss.com, The SOBCon08 Blog and one other URL I own.

Other signs life and page rank is changing . . .

  • Live PR Live Pagerank appears to be dead. Every site is coming up 0. Note: the Alexa ranks are coming through fine.
  • The same thing — 0 PR for every site — appears to be happening at Smart PageRank
  • iwebtools PageRank Checker is reporting changes and lots of “Datacenter down” responses.

And then, of course, there are the blogs taken down hard last October . . .

10 Sites Hit in October . . . Today

Some stats collected by Daily Blogging Tips last October and the current page rank reported by more than one tool. NOTE: Google datacenters are still dancing, not all datacenters are reporting. That means numbers could go anywhere.

I love looking for patterns in Google thinking.

What does this mean? Do you care?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

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Dear Google, I’m the Relationship Blogger

Filed Under SEO, Successful Blog, Tech/Stats | 60 Comments

Dear Google,
It’s Liz.

I’m a little confused about our relationship. After two years, you dumped me from Page Rank 6 to a Page Rank 3.

I would have thought it was text-links I had — they’re gone now. I’m sorry. The world knows I’m not an SEO whiz, if I was one, I wouldn’t have 40-some categories in my sidebar. At least, that’s what folks tell me.

But you dumped my LizStrauss blog too, and it doesn’t have any ads and never did.

It’s disheartening when I think of how I advocate NOT GAMING the system.

You might remember when I said

Links and relationships are intertwined and inseparable to me. It’s about people and connections that last.

Did you misunderstand the SOB program after all of this time? Not all of these folks have all of the links you might expect, but they will, because they show the key traits of a successful blogger. I know they will because they write good content and they make good relationships.

Is it that I write creative entertainment sometimes? Isn’t that better than just regurgitating someone else’s content?

Everyone knows that a link exchange on this blog is out of the question.

I’m the kind of blogger who wants a relationship not a one link stand.

And then there was my personal stance on link trains and other valueless link posts.

Dear Emperor: A Test for Your Next Link Post

If the recent birthday party invitation to 646 blogs threw you, please know that it lived up to the “Dear Emperor” standard. So will the link posts like this first one that celebrate the links the party guests brought to show their most successful and outstanding experiences — a birthday only happens once a year. You can believe I’m checking them. I do that for you, for me, and for my readers.

So Google, that’s our history. I know you know me better. I’m the person behind the numbers. I don’t link promiscuously.

I’m the relationship blogger. I want folks to respect me in the morning.

Liz's Signature
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The Google Dance: Page Ranks January 2007

Filed Under SEO, Successful Blog | 14 Comments

Why Does Anyone Care about Page Rank?

Google uses a numbering system — page rank — to determine how relevant each is blog is. The system is based on a complex algorithm that places weight on how blogs are linked. I explained it this way during the Google Page Rank Update last February.

Page rank determines how relevant your blog is by using linking as a vote system. Google has developed an algorithm that weighs links between blogs A to B to C to A, and also looking also at the importance of the blogs making the links. Quality blogs that are well connected to other quality blogs are considered highly relevant to Google users. Relevant, quality, important blogs receive higher page ranks. Higher page ranks can mean higher advertising payments for blogs that monetize.

Many tools are available to help you query Google’s various data centers to check for any changes in PageRank values for a given URL. During most times the data centers deliver the same rank, however during an update you might get a glimpse of changes URL’s PageRank value. Beaware that the information is only as accurate as the tool you use. I’ve had rankings predictions vary as much as three points between tools.

Google changes their algorithm frequently. This is the tool that I use. Click the image to go there.

Keep in mind that many fluctuations occur and that the dance takes many days before things settle down into their final place.

Also read:
Aaron Wall’s Google PageRank Leakage & Misconceptions on PageRank

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related
Google Page Ranks Underway Feb. 2006

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Net Neutrality 11-30-2006

Filed Under Business Life, Community, SOB Business, Successful Blog, Trends | Leave a Comment

Net Neutrality Links

I’m adding this link to the Net Neutrality Page.

No Slam Dunk for Net Neutrality (with apologies to George Tenet)

What isn’t yet known is who will chair the pivotal Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee. If it’s Ed Markey (D-Mass.), then you have a strong Bell opponent, strong Net Neutrality proponent and some momentum. But, Markey has a lot of options. He could try for the chairmanship of the full Resources Committee, and he also has seniority on the Homeland Security committee.

Depending on what Markey does, the Telecom Subcommittee could be led by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.). Boucher, like Markey, is a strong Net Neutrality proponent. But unlike Markey and very much like Dingell, Boucher tends to favor the Bell companies on many other issues.

[ . . . ]

With some positive Net Neutrality leadership in place, then the question becomes, what would be in any overall telecom legislation, and there the picture gets lots more murky. Let’s start with video franchising. This is the concept behind the Bells’ push for a bill this year. They want to get into the cable business, providing TV programming over their fast networks, and they don’t want to negotiate with 30,000 local authorities to get permission as the real cable providers had to do. So the Bells pushed the bill that gave them, and cable, a free pass nationally to enter cable business, pushing aside objections from local governments.

[ . . . ]

Remember, the Bells still have a lot of friends and a lot of votes in Congress, whether on Net Neutrality or not. There are many legislators of both parties, on the relevant committees or not, who will vote the Bell line regardless. Net Neutrality isn’t a slam dunk. The key will be how much the Bells will be willing to deal. They didn’t feel the need in the last session of Congress. Now, with the leadership against them, they may have a different calculus, of trying to get the best bill they can.

By now, the Bells have realized how important Net Neutrality is to a great many people and organizations, ranging from large companies like Google and Yahoo, to public interest groups like Public Knowledge (my day-job employer), something they probably didn’t count on this year. If they try in good faith to negotiate a reasonable Net Neutrality provision next year, the Bells could gain some of their goals despite themselves.

Want to know what you can do?
MA Bell Monopoly Versus the Free Internet — Tell the FCC Net Neutrality Is Not Negotiable

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related
NET NEUTRALITY PAGE

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Net Neutrality 11-06-2006

Filed Under Business Life, Community, SOB Business, Successful Blog, Trends | Leave a Comment

Net Neutrality Links

I’m adding this link to the Net Neutrality Page.

Battle over ‘net neutrality’ arrives in Canada

. . . “Right now, the internet is almost a perfect, universal democracy,” says Pippa Lawson, the executive director of the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Law Clinic.

“The smallest bloggers can be accessed as easily and as quickly as the websites of major corporations.”

There’s clear incentive there for those who have the economic interests to discriminate. That’s why it’s necessary to ensure that there’s a level playing field and you have to do that legislatively.”

Lawson said Canadian companies want exactly what American companies want — to control the web and make a lot of money doing so.

“There’s a big push in Canada right now to allow those sorts of discriminatory practices,” Lawson said.

“The companies that own the pipes of the internet — the telecom companies — haven’t liked sitting back and watching big content providers like Google and Yahoo make billions of dollars. They want a piece of the pie, and they want to be able to favour their own content or the content of the corporations that would pay them big money.”

Want to know what you can do?
MA Bell Monopoly Versus the Free Internet — Tell the FCC Net Neutrality Is Not Negotiable

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related
NET NEUTRALITY PAGE

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