Google Has Been Busy Ranking Sites, Post Panda

Has anyone else been checking their PR on their websites blogs and articles. I had a pretty good coo when I went from PR0 across the board to PR4 for the home page on my European Travel Website with many of the other pages getting awarded PR3  or below. All done without smoke and mirrors and no black hat techniques. Fingers crossed that the pages will retain their new found status. I checked some of my keyword targets and I am getting page one of Google for many of the terms I identified when the site was set up. Can’t be bad then can it, I guess time will tell.

[ad name=”Adsense3″]So I think it is fair to say that the latest algorithm changes and PR criteria must be suiting the way I do business. This blog crept up another PR number to 3, which considering how competitive the subject is, should be considered no mean feat. Especially as I actually do operate as a one man band and I write my own unique articles i.e. no automated spinning software allowed or at least not deliberately. I do accept guest articles but try and make sure they are good quality, properly written and provide useful information. One or two substandard ones have crept in on occasion on some of my blogs, but they don’t stay long once spotted.

So what is the secret to getting a pat on the back from Google? Well if the results I have seen are anything to go by there isn’t really a secret, because Google have been telling us and I have been telling you about it in my Search Engine Results Experiment. Hopefully you have been following that dialogue and taking on board what I have been saying, it certainly is starting to look like that is the way to go. In summary then, it is as originally stated :

• High quality original content
• High number of incoming high quality and relevant links
• Proper use of external resources that add value to the site i.e. outgoing links
• Utilisation of blogging platforms that will provide regular and dynamic content targeted to the home website
• Proper use of social media and Web 2.0 resources

These are the exact same criteria as identified in the original search engine results experiment post. Incidentally the target website for the experiment also got a bit of a boost and is now PR4. And with several associated pages ranked at PR3.

I can expand on this list a little by saying that the proper use of Google Webmaster tools didn’t do any harm. Specifically looking at what queries Google associates with your site and, if it works with your content, adopting the associated keywords. No point fighting it, if Google says your site is about a certain thing and it is, then use those queries to fine tune your keywords. Try and ensure the description snippets are saying the right thing as well, as discussed in this earlier post.

The reasoning – if the snippet leads to your site and they find that the snippet accurately describes the content of your site, there is a good chance they will bookmark and or link to your site as a point of reference. Bookmarks and links equal powerful Google juice.

Anyway I will get off my soapbox now before someone kicks it from underneath me, I guess when you move up 4 Page Ranks in one day it can go to your head a bit. But you have to remember that what goes up can come down, sometimes even faster, so don’t take it for granted. You can check your page rank using the tool in the Blogroll if you don’t have a checker built into your brower, this one is quite good because it reports back on your individual pages.