It seemed that Google had all but given up on keeping PageRank up to date. In the past year, it had only been updated a single time, back in February of 2013. Well, the long PageRank drought it now over, because as an early Christmas present, Google has updated PageRank across the web. Let’s take a look at how the new PageRank landscape looks and what it means for your SEO.
Earlier this year at Pubcon in Las Vegas, Matt Cutts said that the PageRank system was broken and there were no plans to fix it in 2013. Apparently Google decided that it was worth investing in after all, because it’s going strong with no more issues apparent.
As far as the updates go, the news isn’t exactly stellar. Newer sites are being upgraded to a PR1 or PR2, but very few new sites are higher than that. Unfortunately, higher ranked sites in the PR4-PR6 range have dropped all the way back down to PR1 as a result of poor content and bad linking practices.
Some people are saying that the PageRank data isn’t up to date, that it may be from as long ago as September, but there’s really no way to tell. Google and Matt Cutts will neither confirm or deny the allegation so all we can do is work with what we’re given.
You should check your updated PageRank right away and see how your site is fairing. If your site is only a year or two old, you should expect to be around a PR2. If your site is much older, you should be at least a PR4. If you want some help checking your PageRank and understanding how it affects your total search engine optimization strategy, feel free to contact me at info@wikimotive.com for a quick (and, of course, free) appraisal of your current standings.