In the past week, I have been turned down for three reviews and/or PR campaigns based on my {lack of} Google PageRank. This has me annoyed and, quite frankly, confused. Why are companies relying so much on a third party site to tell them how good or bad my site is for them? Do they not realize that Google hasn’t updated their PageRank since April?
That means that any blog that moved to their own domain or changed domains since April has a PR score of Zero. This includes me. I moved from Blogger to WordPress and to my own domain in June. Before that, I was at PR 2 (after 4 months of blogging). So, logically, I should at least be at a 3 now, right? I get double the traffic, about 4 times the number of followers, over 100 more email subscribers and over 1,500 new Twitter followers.
But, since my Google PR hasn’t updated, I am being denied reviews and other opportunities. Google doesn’t think I’m cool enough, so I can’t work with your company? Really?
It’s getting ludicrous honestly. Even Simply Stacie, which has thousands of subscribers and does tons of reviews is getting turned down for things because her PR is zero. She moved to her own domain and over to WordPress in May {guessing} and since PR hasn’t updated, she is back at zero. Her old site still has a PR of 3, even though it’s auto-redirected to her new site. My site is the same way….I put up a 301 redirect several months ago hoping it would trigger the PR shift. Nope.
So, it’s time to educate the PR folks out there and remind them that just because I have a Google PR of zero does not make my blog worthless! I am still just as capable of working with your brand or reviewing your product as anyone else! As a matter of fact, let’s all get together and let the PR people know that we, as a blogosphere, do not want to be accepted or rejected based solely on an outdated algorithm. We would much rather be judged solely on our content, our traffic and our readership. If you like our work, then forget about PR and give us a chance!
If you agree, please write a post about it and link up below. If even a few of us link up together, we can show the PR reps out there that it’s an issue and maybe they’ll take notice.
Oh wow, glad to read this! I just thought my blog really sucked! So I guess I will take down my thingy that says 0/10 haha!
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Lindsay Reply:
November 10th, 2010 at 7:31 am
At least you’re not alone! Your blog does NOT suck and it’s just the fact that Google doesn’t update their stuff that is so frustrating to me… Especially since Google is the pinnacle of authority as far as the Internet is concerned. Thanks for stopping by today!
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Sarah Reply:
November 10th, 2010 at 10:36 am
Hi Lindsay,
How do you know that Google hasn’t updated their PR tracker since April?
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Lindsay Reply:
November 10th, 2010 at 10:53 am
It’s actually been a hotbed of controversy around the blogosphere and there are many websites you actually track the updates. One great example is http://googlepagerankupdate.com/.
Sarah Reply:
November 10th, 2010 at 10:56 am
Hi Lindsay,
I’ve seen that page, but how do you know that is accurate? I hate to be nit-picky, but does this mean the toolbar has updated or the actual ranking. I’ve heard that Google does update their PageRank regularly, but only updates the actual toolbar ever 3-6 months. You can read a thread on this here: http://bit.ly/cvZMAy
Lindsay Reply:
November 10th, 2010 at 11:14 am
Sarah, I appreciate your questions and comments. Never apologize for that. Google does constantly update their internal ranking (I assume anyway) but they do not publish those rankings regularly. They used to publish their rankings quarterly but have stopped doing that as of April. Unpublished rankings do very little for those bloggers trying to work with PR companies who can only see the published rankings. You’ll notice that the thread you linked is actually from 2006 and, at that time, Google was updating quarterly. I cannot guarantee that every site that claims they are accurate is actually accurate, but it is a general consensus among the web community that these dates are correct. Here are a few more resources:
http://www.hobo-web.co.uk/seo-blog/google-pr-2008/
http://www.techjaws.com/when-is-the-next-google-pagerank-update/
http://googlepagerankupdate.net/
http://tek3d.org/google-stop-updating-pagerank
http://pagerankupdates.com/google-pagerank-update-history.html
Just wanted to let you know I agree with you 100%. I bought my own domain and lost my PR, and since then haven’t had as many opportunities. I started blogging a year ago with a post 5 times a week. Lately though have stopped because it feels like you have to jump through to many hoops to get the big names to take you on.
Going to be quitting my blog at the end of the year~ glad to have found your blog- I love to read Simply Stacie!
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Lindsay Reply:
November 10th, 2010 at 7:30 am
Thanks Brodie. I hate that you feel like you want to quit blogging! It can be such a great creative outlet…especially when you just need to get something off your chest! And thanks so much for the giveaway linky! I couldn’t leave a comment on your blog b/c I’m at work and our firewalls hate Blogger comments, but I wanted you to know I appreciate it.
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I think PR reps definitly need to look at more then PR. I am a one and have been forever but when you look at other tools for measuring reach such as Klout I rank as connected. Even alexa seems to be a better measure although it seems to have it’s flaws too.
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Lindsay Reply:
November 10th, 2010 at 7:27 am
I like Alexa and Klout a lot…but Klout doesn’t really seem to take your actual blog into consideration (does it?) but more your Twitter and Facebook following. And that is a pretty good indicator as well, but it needs to be combined with something else. Thanks for your response!
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Oh, how I wish I was at a 0! It took me from May until just this past month to become a 0 on my blogger acct, and mid october I became my own domain on wordpress..and Im back to N/A. Sigh! I have actually had someone say they werent able to work with me at the moment, but to check back in a few months, maybe then ill have a pr…
O well.
Thank you for this post. I was just starting to feel that it was just me!
~misavingsmama.com
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Lindsay Reply:
November 10th, 2010 at 7:26 am
Oh that dreaded N/A. I hate it! I was stuck at N/A for a long time after my domain move and when I went from N/A to zero I found hope that an update was coming. It seems Google likes to do “mini-updates” randomly, but they are usually followed by a full update. Maybe they’ll finally update some time this year…..But I won’t hold my breath.
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I couldn’t agree more! I switched from Blogger to WP in May, and my PR dropped from a 4 to a 1 and hasn’t gone back up since. It is ridiculous!
Instead of looking at page rank (I mean, what is it really??), how about they look at followers, twitter followers, FB fans, subscribers, influence, quality of work, etc. Those things are much more important!
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Lindsay Reply:
November 10th, 2010 at 7:24 am
I am with you 100% on that. When I contact a company, I give them a full breakdown of my stats so that they can see real figures instead of a PR, but sometimes they still go for that PR value that is practically non-existent anymore. You can get a pretty good feel of a blog based on its subscribers/followers and traffic.
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Very well spoken!!
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Hi Lindsay,
I think that those companies who have turned you down are prioritizing SEO first, then branding/traffic from your blog secondary. I can’t say i blame them though. We rely on Google so much, what Google want, we better give to them. They practically run this Internet.
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Lindsay Reply:
November 10th, 2010 at 7:35 am
Josiah, thanks for your comment. I think that you are absolutely right, but I think that a good PR pro specializing in social media would understand that Google PR cannot be the alpha and omega of SEO. PageRanks do not prove or disprove a site’s authority on a search engine. Sure, it gives a visual representation of the link quantity out on the web, but it says very little for quality…especially when it hasn’t even been updated in over 6 months. I think the misconception is that PR = SEO and that is simply not true. For example, if Simply Stacie linked to you from her old site (which is at PR3) it would do very little good since that site is auto-redirected to her new site (which is at PR0) but if she linked to you from her new site or her FB page, you would quickly see results (as I did on my Social page with this post).
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Very well written article….Stacie and I have talked about how discouraging it is to get a rude response from a company asking why we were “stripped of our rank” Sigh….
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Lindsay Reply:
November 10th, 2010 at 8:35 am
Thanks Maureen! That is not only an ignorant response from someone in the ‘professional” realm, but also a very unprofessional one. Rude responses or even pitches turn me off so fast it’s not even funny!
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HA! I am such a newbie I haven’t even heard of that before!! I get turned down for reviews and giveaways because no one is willing to take a chance on a new and growing blog. But I understand. Maybe someday I will be big enough to say down with the man and boo to google pagerank! Because it sounds crazy that you have a ranking of zero. That is ludicrous.
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I totally agree. My new blog was launched in April so I still have a page rank of zero. So far most companies, after I explain to them why I’m still at 0, have been willing to work with me. Although I have missed out on many other paid post opportunities due to page rank.
Shared this post on Facebook and Twitter! And I’m now following you as well!
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Lindsay Reply:
November 10th, 2010 at 10:54 am
Thanks Amy! I really appreciate the PR folks who eventually will overlook PR after I explain to them the situation. The paid posts are really annoying to miss out on though…I sure could use that money! LOL
Thanks for visiting and sharing!
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LINDSAY THANK YOU FOR WRITING THIS. It is terrible that so many of us have been effected by this. I hope they read some of the posts and either update or do away with it and for the companies who use it to determine our quality, they should be more proactive in the system they use.
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Lindsay Reply:
November 10th, 2010 at 11:40 am
Cindi, thank you for stopping by and taking the time to read and comment. I hate that a third-party ranking is what defines us in the eyes of so many. Boo.
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Cindi Reply:
November 10th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
I know. If I would have known that it wasn’t going to update I wouldn’t have switched to a .com. I was at around 600 followers and had a PR 2 back in April. I hurried to do my domain change before what I thought was going to be the next update (I emailed them and they told me any time). LONG Story short A few thousand followers later, several months, and a PR0. Go figure hu? I get so tired of seeing the YOU NEED A PR3 or higher. HMM I would be if they did it. Bummer and so not right.
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Isn’t it amazing how the world is placing so much power in the hands of Google? It’s rather annoying!
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Lindsay Reply:
November 10th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Google runs this world. It’s nuts.
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Interesting post- I retweeted. It does amaze me that you bigger blogs get turned down due to Google PR. You’d think the companies could look at the PR of your old site and realize you still have the same followers/readers etc., if not even more now.
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Lindsay Reply:
November 10th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Thanks Susie! The weird thing is…it seems that Google did a ‘mini-update’ and now even my old site is back at a PR0. I don’t get it. I really dont. Thanks for the RT and taking the time to comment!
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Hi Lindsay,
GREAT post. I am part of you club. Same thing. Moved to WP in June/July and my GPR is 0, used to be 3. I hope to join your link with a short post. Thank you!
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Lindsay Reply:
November 10th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
Thanks Kristi! The more the merrier!
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It does stink. I get turned down all the time, I understand I am new, but I have a niche market of readers most people don’t. I also noticed my rank went from 3 to 1 recently too…. *sigh*
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Lindsay Reply:
November 10th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
Your PR dropped?? When did that happen? That indicates something is happening on Google’s side but they’re only going DOWN? Maybe they’ve completely re-written their algorithm and the PRs just aren’t as easy to get anymore? If that is the case then PR pros still need to review and adjust their methods.
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Thanks for this post! I moved to my own domain (still on blogger) in May and have been wondering WHY I am still at 0 (I was 2 before), if I needed to change something on my site or remove some affiliate ads. It’s been driving me nuts!
I did NOT know Google’s PR hadn’t been updated since April. But I have been getting frustrated with my inability to apply for a variety of reviews and ad programs because of my 0 status.
If I post about it I’ll definitely link up. Kristi Maloney sent me the link to this post.
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And I just read your profile – you’re in metro Atlanta?! I live in Roswell and work in Kennesaw
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Lindsay Reply:
November 10th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
Aleksandra, I work in Kennesaw too! It’s such a small world! And I’m glad that you now know that your PR is not at a zero because of your inadequacies. You are just fine and dandy! It’s GOOGLE that is lacking here!
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Aleksandra Reply:
November 10th, 2010 at 6:49 pm
Do you really?! How nuts! I know another blogger who lives in Kennesaw
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I was actually feeling sorry for myself not too long ago sitting with a big fat 0 page rank since my .com 3 months ago. I did not realize google really hurts so many of us when we make the move or even start fresh. I honestly have tried everything I find like adding links in your posts to your blog, signatures in forums and even links to my blog in emails. AND NOTHING.
Thank you for your share. I still feel po’ed to say the least but at least not alone.
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I’m so glad you wrote this. I am so frustrated with this Page rank. I moved to wordpress and it went from n/a to 0 then 2 by March and then now nothing. When are they going to update it? It’s so unfair. I have lost giveaway review opportunities and of course paid posts because I’m ‘only a 2′
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Checking your Page Rank in the PR world is as antiquated as using a dial-up telephone!
I don’t know why these PR groups hold onto them so dearly – they mean squat when it comes to influence and influence is where it’s at. It’s like standing on a street corner screaming out your MySpace info.
Your Page Rank is based on a few things, age of blog being one of them and if you haven’t ticked off the gods over at Google by doing something illegal.
When you’re on a blog.Blogspot.com blog it (the Page Rank checkers) see the Blogspot.com and ranks your blog based on the age of Blogspot. Which is OWNED by Google …. So a blog with good and frequent content that is only a couple of years old can have a better PR ranking than an older more establish blog on their own domain.
When I moved to my own domain in April I too was penalized for jumping ship and am now sitting at a ZERO. PR companies have turned me down as well – until {a few} find out that I’m a Social Media Director for an Internet Marketing Company who specializes in SEO… but some still stick with, nope you’re not popular enough according to Page Rank.
I say whatever! If those PR companies aren’t going to have the decency to do DUE DILIGENCE and actually KNOW who they’re communicating with … bah humbug. Let them disappear with all the other dinosaurs.
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Lindsay Reply:
November 11th, 2010 at 7:25 am
Shash thank you so much for your comment. I could not have put it better {obviously}. I think that if the PR professionals would do their due diligence and check out the blogs they are choosing to work with, they would easily find not only the more effective blogs, but the ones that fit in with their core target market a lot better.
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I ran into a similar problem just today. The magic number to reach is 500. I’m far from that, but in good spirit I’m hosting a Reader Appreciation Giveaway. I’m hoping people who haven’t heard or visited my site will do so and get something out of it. I love books and want to host larger giveaways and ARC reviews. Depending where I check I have 27, 178 or 195 followers. Hum…???
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Lindsay Reply:
November 11th, 2010 at 7:29 am
It’s true..sometimes you can use your readership to talk a PR pro out of the PR pitfall. I usually rattle off my Google followers, RSS subscribers, email subscribers, Facebook fans and Twitter followers. But, even then, sometimes all they want is PR…no matter what else you’ve got.
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Great post! I also took a hit when I dropped the blogspot a few months back being now to a zero again. It is taking forever to try to get back up
& they can’t even bother to update their stats on google?!
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Lindsay Reply:
November 11th, 2010 at 9:04 pm
Barb it stinks that you’re stuck at a zero too. Boo!
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I just asked if anyone’s page ranks had changed just the other day at the SITS Blog Frog Group. I started my 2nd blog in March and it was at a 2 of all things and it’s just stayed that way. I tried researching the info at pageranker and Google without coming up with any answers what-so-ever. I have no idea how anyone figures anything out when it comes to how Google dictates who will have what rank and when they will have them.
I’ve had a couple of companies say they won’t work with me if I’m not at a 3 or 4, so that’s a bummer. I can understand since I’m only at 400 followers or that my Subscriber #s are only around 100. That makes sense, but just for one random site that says THEY are rating me at a 2/10…whatever!
I agree, they should be going by our GFC #s, Twitter Followers, Facebook Likes, Subscribers, RSS subscribers, etc.
I have so many posts that need to get up and my mind can’t wrap around them that I don’t have time to get a post together! Sorry!!
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Lindsay Reply:
November 11th, 2010 at 9:04 pm
I am in the same boat Mimi. Too many posts and not enough time to write them all LOL
Thanks for the taking the time to comment!
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I’m a 4 and have been for a while. I have been afraid to really move to my own domain or off Blogger, who seems to hate deals bloggers. I haven’t had anyone turn me down for my page rank, but you can have a decent page rank and still not a lot of traffic. I don’t put much stock in Alexa either. People can manipulate that system too. I’d rather companies rely more on traffic stats than anything else.
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Love this! It’s so true, we never know if the “Google fairy” is going to grant our wish or break our hearts. Should it really be that big a deal? Definitely not. I went from a PR 0 to a 4 to a 3 this last time. I have no idea why it would have gone down because I have more traffic than ever before right now.
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Geez, that sucks! I have not had this problem since I never switched URL’s or blogging hosts, but I know the frustrating feeling! Hope Google will re-evaluate and update everyones page rank soon!
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Love it! I returned to blogging in March and have been stuck at a 0 since then. My other blog which has less and I only shared scrapbook kits I created, blogged about life and rarely had a review or giveaway I am a 2. Did I mention I have only 20 followers on there and no newsletter. I am by no means big, but since my return I have gained 200 GFCers, 811 Twitter followers, 440 personal and 162 blog group Facebook followers, and I can’t remember how many subscribers. So while I am no where near large, I couldn’t imagine I was still at a 0. Right now I have a headache, but once my husband gets home from work tomorrow I am going to post about this as well, I just want to be able to put some thought into it without my head killing me.
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very good post. and i totally agree with you. it’s bullshit to be honest and why anyone would go by GOOGLE is beyond me. idiots…
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It really sucks about Google not updating Page Rank. I am a 2 and still sometimes have problems getting products to review. Just because they want a 3 or 4 Page Rank. Google is slow on their work on gettting everyone updated.
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Great post. I don’t understand PR much but I sure understood the impact when I lost mine last year. OUCH.
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I don’t understand PR much but I sure felt it when I lost mine last year. OUCH.
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I don’t know why everyone is still stuck on PageRank, but there are alternatives. mozRank is an established competitor that is becoming more popular amongst bloggers, especially as PageRank fades out of the limelight.
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I’m still farely new to blogging and I remember when I started trying to get into the review world of blogging I was met with the challenge of Google PR. It felt like an eternity until I actually got a rank and after 6 months I was at a 2. I have been very lucky to get connected with some really great big and small companies that have not even asked me about my page rank. I have used Product Review groups before to get hooked up with companies but have done most of my reviews off of my own hard work of cold contacts and have found it to be successful. The product review groups tend to have more Google Page Rank questions.
Great post! Google Page Rank is a bust.
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