SEO CheckList

Imagine my surprise when Darren Rowse of Problogger reported that his web site went from PR6 to PR4. And it wasn’t only him, many other prominent blogs have also experienced PageRank drops.

There have been many theories and speculations on why such a thing happened. Here are some of the mor prominent ones I’ve read:

1. Selling Links

It’s such an irony, really, that this would happen soon after I blogged about selling links. Blog networks who usually sell links as part of their revenue making plan were given a lot of think about — do they play by Google’s rules and give up a big part of their revenue or do they do what they usually do?

2. Google Algorithm Change

You didn’t think the Google algorithm would remain the same forever, did you? It might have changed, they might have tweaked it, the possibilities are endless.

3. WidgetBucks

I’m supposed to blog about Widgetbucks this week in the online marketing blog and this happens. Thing is, WidgetBucks has a hidden text link ad behind the Flash animation. The hidden link is reportedly:

<a href=”http://www.widgetbucks.com” target=”_blank”>WidgetBucks - Trend Watch - WidgetBucks.com</a>

However, WidgetBucks had an update just after the “Google PageTank” and removed their hidden text link which is against Google’s guidelines. Many speculated this was done to regain the big G’s favor since WidgetBucks doesn’t even rank for their own name. But in the PinoyMoneyTalk blog, Greg Harrison of WidgetBucks made an appearance and commented that it wasn’t the case at all and the new WidgetBucks update is to accommodate the changes brought about by the Akamai content delivery network.

As of now, some web sites have rebounded back to their normal PR rankings. Still, one has to wonder if such a thing will happen again in the future. Lesson learned from this whole ordeal? PageRank isn’t everything. Your PR dropped? Get on with life — the world goes on, so should you.