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Is PageRank Decay A Hamster Wheel For Webmasters?

06 2008 Friday

By Andrew Jamaz in Featured

A recent Pagerank jiggle seemed to indicate that something interesting was happening. Could Google be using its Pagerank system to prevent low-quality sites getting free traffic?

Several of my own observations indicated that low-value Pagerank links may decay over time.

One webmaster reported a jump from Pagerank zero to Pagerank five, purely from a recent link-building campaign. During his link building efforts, he got a few links from a Pagerank 6 blog, and he expected those links “to fade as new posts come out”.

The way that blogs work is that new posts appear on the homepage which is usually the highest ranked page on the blog. Over time, those blog posts move off the homepage and into the archives, where they usually have less Pagerank.

What if the whole web worked in the same way? If new links were counted “in full”, but over time the Pagerank of the links “faded”?

If that were the case, a site that was receiving lots of traffic, but which stopped getting links would eventually lose its traffic. That’s what I experienced with one of my own websites which was chugging along at 2,000 visitors per day. After the PageRank jiggle, the traffic dropped.

Another indication of Pagerank decay came from an SEO expert who wrote that “You need fresh links today, and in the future”.

Are you starting to see a pattern? Pagerank from older blog posts fades, a site that didn’t get any recent links experienced falling traffic, and an SEO expert saying you need continual fresh links.

Here’s my Pagerank Decay theory…

1: Google loves quality sites.

2: Quality sites get links naturally over time.

3: Low value links decay over time.

“PageRank Decay” would benefit Google, because if a site only gets low-quality links, and the PageRank of those links decays over time, the webmaster either has to continually build more links, or give up.

Webmasters who try to manipulate Google will most likely be getting low-quality links. If they spend time building links, they’ll get traffic, but only for a while unless other sites start linking to them naturally. If they don’t get any new links for a while, their traffic will fall.

On the other hand, if a webmaster builds a quality website that other webmasters choose to link to, the site will maintain, or even improve, its search engine rankings naturally.

It’s possible that Google only applies Pagerank decay to low-value Pagerank links. Presumably, the age of a link from a top-quality website wouldn’t affect its value. Anyone who had a site good enough to get a link from a Pagerank 8 or higher website wouldn’t see the value of that link dwindle to nothing in over time. Sites with PageRank 8 or higher would thereby form a “backbone” of quality, trusted sites from which PageRank would flow to lesser sites.

The bottom line is that, if you accept PageRank Decay exists then anyone who works really hard to build “low value” links into their sites will have to keep working hard just to maintain their traffic.

PageRank Decay is like a hamster wheel for webmasters who build sites that don’t get natural links.

Andrew Jamaz - Getting links from blogs is a great way to boost your website’s traffic. Finding the best blogs to leave comments on is now easier than ever with this top-quality, free blog finding software.

How to Promote Your Business Using Classified Ads

06 2008 Friday

By Jay Gaulard in Featured

Classified ads can be very effective in online marketing. Free classified ads fit into every budget. It all comes down to how much time you are willing to spend creating, posting, updating and deleting ads. Depending on your particular product or service, it can be time-consuming to respond to interested parties, deliver goods or services and maintain a high level of customer service.

Selling through free classified ads can help you promote your business. Include your company’s name, product information and a website link in your ads to gain more attention. Include pictures whenever possible to give customers a better idea of what they can expect if they make a purchase from you.

The Benefits of Promoting on Classified Ad Sites

Aside from saving you money in advertising costs, placing ads on free classified sites has many other benefits. These include:

Targeted traffic directed to your website.
Instant posting.
Few rules regarding what can be posted.
The opportunity to test your ad copy at no cost before placing ads on websites that draw more traffic but charge a fee.
The ability to track your visitors and gauge how successful each ad is.
The ability to build your opt-in list and follow up with potential customers.

Tips for Promoting Your Business Using Free Classified Ads

Promoting your business with free classified ads is relatively easy. Still, there are some steps that can make your campaign more successful. Keep these tips in mind:

Familiarize yourself with the terms of the classified ad site before posting. This will help you avoid having your ads deleted.
Place ads frequently for better results. Update weekly to keep your posts at the top so you get more views.
Remain professional, both in your classified ads and in dealings with potential customers.
Make sure your ad shines and stands out from the crowd without being too loud or obnoxious.
Include keywords to help targeted customers find your ads.

Classified Ads and Niche Marketing

One particularly effective way to get more targeted traffic from your free classified ads is to choose sites that are very specific in nature. For example, if you own a company that sells creative and unique baskets, then you can place your ad on a site for gifts. If you own a used car dealership, however, the gift site is not going to work for you. You can advertise in the automobile section of a general site, but you can also search for classified ad sites that are specifically geared toward car enthusiasts. The key is that visitors to these sites will already be interested in what you have to offer.

Traditional Advertising Versus Online Marketing

The advertising world has changed a lot over the last decade. Traditional print ads are not as effective as they once were. They also can be costly. Online marketing is the most effective way to promote a business, whether it is an online business or actually has a storefront. Free classified ads should certainly be included in your marketing strategy. Carefully track your website traffic to gauge how effective each ad is, and then make adjustments as needed. Online marketing is here to stay. Avoiding this valuable tool is like shutting the door on potential customers.

This article was written by Jay Gaulard on behalf of FigLeeg Classifieds, a popular free classifieds website.

SEO - It’s All About the Cache!

06 2008 Friday

By Jeffrey Smith in Featured

With SEO it’s all about the cache. Crawl frequency determines how changes impact your site. Without an updated cache, there are no significant changes or rankings to report to search engines.

Do you see why getting the attention of spiders is important? They are the gatekeepers between your content and the world. RSS is one method to toggle spidering, social bookmarking is another, but the fastest way to increase your cache rate for content is to (1) increase posting through using consistent time periods to introduce new posts or pages and (2) build inbound links to internal pages to create spike in network activity necessary to attract the spiders (otherwise known as a ping). Pings from your site are a digital invitation to search engines update changes.