Google GirlOn New Years Eve…or sometime around there the folks at Google did another update on the Google Page Rank algorithm giving us all something to talk about on New Years Day.

I’ve been doing some research on the subject and trying to figure out how GrandmasterB dot com compared with other blogs in my network of friends, and how their blogs faired after the update. To give you a little bit of a background, this site has improved in Page Rank each of the past three updates prior to January 1, 2009.

After the June 2008 update, the site was given a whopping Page Rank of 1 out of 10. Not to bad for a blog less than three months old, and I was very happy with the result. Each subsequent update, the site improved one point on the Page Rank scale and settled in at 3 out of 10. During this past update though…the main page stayed put at 3.

I was a bit perplexed and bummed out as well, but then I realized something that was different about the past quarter in comparison to the previous three. I hadn’t put out any content that was worth a substantial boost in traffic, links and ultimately a boost in Page Rank. I did however notice a huge jump on my Design Services Page Rank from 0/10 to 3/10. The improved ranking for my Design Services page should assist me in building traffic to that page and bring in potential clients to view my portfolio and ultimately hire me to do work for them.

So, how do I know what my Page Rank is you ask? Well, to determine your Page Rank you can find out a few ways. By far the easiest and least time consuming is visiting the Google Page Rank Checker site. Another method is to install the Google Toolbar on Firefox or Internet Explorer. Each page that loads will have a small green bar in the Google Toolbar telling you it’s Page Rank. Those tools are easy to use, but what if you have a blog with multiple posts and pages? How can you check your Page Rank on every post and page?

Well, I found just the tool for the job…the SlaptiGooglePR plugin by Scott Hebert. Once installed and activated the SlaptiGooglePR plugin will display the over Google Page Rank of your blog at the top of the WordPress Admin page, and will also tell you the rank of every post and page on your blog. So, rather than visiting every page and post on your blog to find the Page Rank or typing each Search Engine friendly URL into the Page Rank Checker you can get all the information you need in one place…your Admin panel of WordPress. Check out the screenshots below to see the SlaptiGooglePR plugin in action.

WordPress 2.7: Edit Pages WordPress 2.7: Edit Posts

I am by no means an expert in SEO or improving my Google Page Rank. Personally, I think it all depends on one thing…QUALITY CONTENT. Creating good content, that people read and link to is the key to improving your site’s Page Rank. There are a few things that you can do to help yourself out like leaving comments on other blogs, asking friends to link you and other methods. One thing you shouldn’t do is purchase links from someone touting they have an “easy way” to improve your rank. It’s a scam and chances are it will hurt your standing with Google. I have polled some of the folks in my network of blogging friends to see how they did with the latest update to show you that there are no guarantees with the Google Page Rank going up…sometimes you stay put and sometimes you drop.

GOOGLE PAGE RANK UPDATE – JANUARY 2009
Website Previous Rank New Rank Change
GrandmasterB 3 3 unchanged
Cuzoogle 3 3 unchanged
The Sports Dollar 4 4 unchanged
Blaze of Love 0 4 PLUS 4
Yep Yep 4 5 PLUS 1
Don Chavez 2 3 PLUS 1
BuzzPirates 3 4 PLUS 1
SteadyBurn 0 3 PLUS 3
World of Isaac 3 4 unchanged
The Blue Workhorse 0 0 unchanged

As you can see, for the most part everyone remained unchanged. The newer blogs like Blaze of Love and the newly revamped Steady Burn had huge jumps in their Page Rank. If you’d like more information regarding Google Page Rank, check out the article titled Page Rank Explained by Web Workshop. My business partner Jeff also has some great tips for helping you improve your rank on his other site BuzzMyBlog.com, it’s where I started researching blogging and Search Engine Optimization…check it out.

~ GrandmasterB