Is Google PageRank Still Valid?

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BWMagic's Web Marketing News!



Contents:



o Google Universal Search

o Is Google PageRank Still Valid?

o Marketing Tips: How To Cut Your Google Adwords Budget to Nil!

o Online Marketing Monthly - Professional Magazine


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Almost every day now Google rolls out another product
or introduces new changes to its existing programs.
Staying on top of Google is a full time job or it
seems like it.

Many people bash Google - I don't. I have always found
Google's products to be superior to anything on the web.
They get it right. And they get it right often.

From a marketing perspective I believe just having
anything referring to Google on your webpages or site
is a positive thing. The ordinary consumer and surfer
respects Google. They trust Google and anything Google.

Aligning your site and web pages to Google should be
an online marketing strategy for every webmaster. I
firmly believe there are more pluses than minuses to
this strategy. It has worked for me but maybe I have
become somewhat biased with all thos Adsense checks
over the years!

I will even include Google Adsense on pages even though
I can earn 10 times the revenue with affiliate programs
and click per action lead generation. I believe Google
helps to sell your information and your products.


o Google Universal Search


Recently, Google has introduced Google Universal search
where you not only have web page search but other kinds
of links: images, videos, books, blogs, news and local
searches. These are all blended together on the SERPs
or return results page and give you a broader view
of the information that's out there on the web.

As the web evolves, Google is adapting right along
with it. ( I think in a few years we will have a billion
channels on the web instead of websites - more like TV
channels than websites!)

We no longer get our information and news from one
search anymore - it's a combination of different sources
and Google Universal Search is reflecting that obvious
fact.

Sometimes referred to as 'Vertical Search' where you're
narrowing down your search to specific sources: video
searches, blog searches, book searches... it can bring
up more relevant results and that's the whole point of
doing the inquiry or search in the first place.

For marketers, this opens up a whole new world, offering
new ways to market your site or products. Using videos
and blogs would be just two examples that are already in
the marketing mainstream.

Of course, no matter the medium, what we only have to
do is provide valuable information or content... and
Google will still find you.

I better stop now - or I will be opening up a
'Church of Google' soon! But like I said I do
like what Google has to offer.


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o Is Google PageRank Still Valid?



Just the mention of it can send some webmasters and even
quite a few SEOs into fits of rage or ecstasy. Just what is
Google PageRank? And more importantly, is Google PageRank
and the PR Toolbar still valid marketing tools?

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Feature Article
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Is Google PageRank Still A Valid Marketing Tool?
Copyright © 2007


The Google PageRank Toolbar in SEO circles is a hotly
debated item, as are most issues dealing with Google.
Some say it's useless, others say it gives you a general
overview of your site's standing in Google. Regardless
of who is right, this Toolbar shouldn't be ignored nor
worshipped, just closely watched.

The Google PR Toolbar is a simple tool you can download
and place on your browser. When you surf the web, this
toolbar will give you Google's PR or Page Rank for that
particular site or page. Google ranks all web pages from
a scale of 0 to 10. This Toolbar is more like the Richter
scale than an ordinary scale, there's a big difference in
the rankings as you go up and they are not proportional.

You must also realize each of these ranking points are
further divided and only Google knows the exact placement
of your site or page within your shown PR number. For
example, if you have a PR6 site your site could be at
low end of the PR6 scale (closer to PR5) or at the top end
which would make it more of a PR7 site. Big difference.

Many suggest Google is not giving us the real value of
the page in the first place and this toolbar is often
out of date and more of a smokescreen than real information
about a site. There could be some truth in this as Google
never gives up all its secrets. Does any company?
Certainly not the company that holds the keys to the
most powerful economic force on the planet: the Internet.

Complicating matters even further are webmasters and
marketers who try to manipulate their own PageRank by
buying or exchanging links with other high PR sites.
Many are now doing Three-Way linking to try to influence
their site's rankings in Google.

A whole SEO industry has been built up around PageRank
for the simple reason the stakes are extremely high. If
you can deliver first place rankings for your client's
targeted keywords in Google it means free organic traffic
or visitors delivered directly to your site.

Many SEO experts believe Google has a whole list of
ranking factors which determine how well your page is
ranked. Among others, these ranking factors include
Google's PageRank algorithm (voting system) and
Hypertext-Matching Analysis (analyzing page content).

If you check out Google's own corporate site for an
explanation you will find that Google clearly states
its patented PageRank™ algorithm is the heart of their
web ranking system which was founded by Larry Page &
Sergey Brin in 1998. You will also find that Google
says it uses numerous factors including PageRank to
examine the whole web and find the most relevant and
important pages to match a specific search.

PageRank takes into consideration over "500 million
variables and 2 billion terms" when finding the most
important pages. Google makes it clear that each page
casts a vote for another page and this is reflected in
the PageRank. Votes from particular sites or pages might
have greater value than others. "Important pages receive
a higher PageRank and appear at the top of the search
results."

The question still remains, is the Google PR Toolbar
a valid marketing tool? Should you use it?

One can only speak from experience, I have always used
the Google PR Toolbar and find it helpful in assessing
what Google thinks of a site or page. I rarely link out
to sites anymore but if I do I always check any potential
linking partners to see their PR. Any site with PR5 or
over I will link to it if that site is related and has
high rankings for my site's own targeted keyword phrases.
I also check out the number of outbound links on that
page, lower is better because the amount of PR passed
along is divided equally with the other links.

Sometimes I will link to a lower PR3 or PR4 site if I
find the content on that site is extremely good and I
know it is only a matter of time before Google upgrades
that site to a PR5 or higher. You must be very careful
not to link out to any type of 'link-farms' as Google
will penalize you for it.

In my opinion, many SEO experts worry too much over the
exact PageRank or Value Google is giving to a page. Whether
or not we can really know the true value of any page? Well,
the true value of any web page is staring you in the face
in Google's SERPs for if over time a page consistently holds
the #1 spot then that is Google's true PageRank and Value
for that page for a particular keyword or keyword phrase.
If your page is consistently in the 1000th spot, then Google
doesn't think your page has much value for that keyword.

Your site's overall value or PageRank within the Google
ranking system may be a little harder to figure out if you
dismiss the PR Toolbar as a good indicator of your site's
overall worth within Google. Maybe Google has put into place
filters and blinders to discourage the online marketers and
SEOs who try to abuse and manipulate PageRank.

Again, one can only speak from experience, I believe the
Toolbar is very helpful in showing what Google thinks of
your pages. Over the years, I have experienced my main
website at a PR1 level and I have experienced it at a PR6
level. Believe me, the PR6 is much better. Can't imagine
what a PR8 site would be like to run or the kind of lifestyle
it would provide.

For higher PR means better rankings for your site and your
keyword phrases. It simply means more traffic and more
sales. If you're optimizing for Google, you should do
everything you can to get the highest PR you can possibly
get. More importantly, you should be doing everything you
can to increase the PR of the pages where you have your
long-tail keyword phrases as organic traffic from these
pages will usually turn out to be your site's main revenue
source.

I have found one of the quickest ways to raise your
Google PR is to get one-way links from high PR6, PR7
and PR8 sites (Think Article Marketing). Google
considers these links as votes for your site and ranks
your site or page accordingly. Consistently get enough
of these incoming one-way links over the long haul and
your PR will go up if you have high quality unique
content pages that are well optimized with good
navigation and formatting.

If you're not using the Google Toolbar - use it!
You can download it here:

http://toolbar.google.com

Another great way to see PR in action is to use the
Visual PageRank tool here:

http://www.iwebtool.com/visual_pagerank

It will show you the PageRank of all internal and external
links on a webpage at once. Extremely helpful when you're
checking out any site or page for at a glance you can see
the current Google PageRank of all these links.

Google's PageRank system, including the PR Toolbar, is
something every webmaster and online marketer should be
aware of in their struggle for higher rankings. Don't
become obsessed with it, instead use this system to your
advantage to build better pages and sites. For despite
all the misconceptions and intricacies of such a complex
system, no webmaster can deny if you conquer the Google
PagePank system, it will deliver the goods.


...................................................
Titus Hoskins is a former teacher and artist who now
works full-time online. If you want to start a web business
try these free training courses:
http://www.bizwaremagic.com/Free_Marketing_Courses.htm
Or try our free Marketing e-Course: http://www.marketingtoolguide.com
Copyright © 2007 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely
distributed if this resource box stays attached.
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o Marketing Tip: How To Cut Your Google Adwords Budget to Nil!


If you're a regular reader, you will know that late last
year I ventured into PPC advertising. Mostly for name
recognization and promotion of my sites. I get most of my
traffic and sales thru organic search and have always found
this the best type of online marketing - its more respected
and doesn't cost a cent.

I am currently doing PPC with all three amigos:
MicroSoft AdCenter, Yahoo Marketing and Google Adwords.

Something surprising has happened with some of my
Google Adwords campaigns - in my search for Google
Arbitrage, I found I can add Google Adsense ads on
my promoted webpages which virtually cut my
Adwords budget to nil!

Don't know if this is common knowledge and I am
appearing a little naive here - like I said, I am
fairly new to PPC advertising.

Keep in mind, I am not talking about purely Arbitrage
sites... instead I am talking about my regular content
webpages which I would normally have Google Adsense on
in the first place and then using these content pages
with Adwords.

By having Adsense on these pages, you can cut the
costs of your Adwords keywords - getting 50%, 75%
off - if you fine-tune it you can even make a
profit with just Adsense alone. But I am satisfied
with cutting it to nil - then make my income with
affiliate links which those pages were designed
to do from the beginning.

I have other affiliate links on those pages but
using both Adsense and Adwords can bring in Google
search traffic for free. Actually, by adding
Adsense to your pages you can bid higher because
you know this traffic is coming at a discount.

Undercutting your PPC campaigns with Google Adsense
is something I will be exploring further. The key
to keeping Google happy is to provide quality content
so your search results are relevant to the search. This
should be your main goal, making a few bucks should be
a pleasant afterthought!






o Online Marketing Monthly - Professional Magazine



Last week I heard from some subscribers who couldn't
sign-up to this magazine because the link wasn't
working. Actually, the link was working but there were
problems on the site with so many people signing
up at once.

This Online Marketing Monthly magazine is being
promoted by some big name marketers, but don't let
that point discourage you - this looks like
an excellent venture and now they have even
added Len Jackson as their Director of Sales
which should get things rolling even further.

I highly recommend you take a look at what
this magazine is all about.

Anyway, if you couldn't check out this new
magazine last week, here is the link again:
excellent free training manuals and videos:




Help spread the word! Please!






Kind Regards,

Titus Hoskins