Things aren't improving....Help me out!!!Google makes another Update!!

[marketraise001]

As it is things aren't improving.My Alexa has slipped miserably and also did my Page rank after Google conducted an updated for PR and backlinks.Initially with my old keywords I did get a good alexa rank from 515,560 it shot up to 245,500.My backlinks/inbound links increased and that enabled my PR up from 3-4.With the new set of keywords that I have now I am facing problems.Is it wise to remove the old existing keywords and add a complete new set or is it better to add new keywords keeping the already existing keywords.

What makes me confused is the manner in which the updates took place.I have been a firm believer that more backlinks helps you to increase your PR. The last time in January when PR and backlinks were updated I had backlinks of 265 nd 170 respectively for a couple of websites that I work upon.Yesterday when Google did the update my backlinks reduced to 121 and 115 respectively.But the funniest aspect is the the PR of bothe sites are the same.One with a backlink of 265 and a PR of 4 reduced to 124 and 3,where as the one with a backlink of 170 and a PR of 2 has it's back links to 118 but the PR shoots up to 3.How's this possible.COULD SOME ONE PLEASE CARE TO EXPLAIN.

[NicheGooRoo]

Hi,

Im still learning myself so Im not sure about the backlinks...

However regarding keywords I know that once you find keywords that work and help your PR you should not change them. "If it aint broke dont fix it"

So If you found that the old keywords wrer performing better for you than it's prob best to switch them back. It will be interesting to see if your PR jumps back up!

[Linda Buquet]

Sometimes there is no apparent rhyme or reason. Sometimes you'll just lose PR or rank and come back the next month. So most advise not to make any drastic changes unless you know you've done something G doesn't like, then certainly change that.

How are you getting your backlinks? That seems to be a touchy issue with G these days and is one of the main reasons some people are being penalized.

[Edwin]

In my honest opinion you seem to worried about nothing and asking the wrong question

Don't worry about PR - review your traffic stats and conversions, that's what MATTERS and PR is not all THAT important for you to worry about.
PR fluctuates and a decrease IN PR is not by definition a decrease in traffic.

And forget about Alexa, just remove it from your list of possible concerns to your business/online endeavors.

Google is known to show irregular results for your backlink profile.
You're better off using Yahoo site explorer, this gives you much more accurate results.

[Rob_TID]

Listen to Edwin.

Who cares about PR or Alexa?

You should be worried about conversions and keyword Rankings.

I have had PR3 sites ranked top 10 for competitive terms and PR 6 sites ranked for nothing.

I will take the PR 3 site any day.

[MrCat]

Search engine algo can be fairly considered as unchartered territories as only the search engines knows how their algo's exactly work.

On your query about replacing with new keywords - determine first if the old keywords you optimized for is actually converting. In SERP, the main gauge for me is conversion

[jcorkern]

Edwin is right, do not worry about PR, the links are a different story. Continue to build good links that will stick. Another thing is that google now boast over 400 data centers across the U.S. and it takes time for the datacenters to share the info.

Did you change anything on the titles of the sites? Are you using social bookmarking or forum post as you main form of linkbuilding?

Let's say you have some links on ABC forum and the forums PR was a PR5, the update brings them to PR4. now, your links have less value and can decrease your PR overall.

Are you doing link exchanges? This is a no-no! This can cause loss of PR. Social bookmarking sites are going to nofollow in masses, this can cause loss of links and pr.

Sooner or later people will learn to stick to the basics and stay away from the "popular" and use the popular in moderation and stick with the tried and true.

If you want a good business, quit following fads and KISS (keep it simple...)

Alexa uses a sample of traffic it gathers from surfers with the alexa tool bar. how many of the people in this forum use the alexa toolbar???

Your alexa ranking can be effected by your demographics and can be easily manipulated. I have several websites that are top 60 alexa for their respective countries, but you notice i have never mentioned it. That is because it is not a factor to be considered.

Stick to the basics and you will not have to worry about anything.

[marketraise001]

Thanks for your co-operation.I will try implementing what you suggested.I do agree that the SERP'S are the most important when you optimize your website for major SE'S.But when you optimize for Google other then the SERP'S you have to concentrate on the PR and backlinks factor.I do get my backlinks from website's whose pages containing a link to my site is cached. I could ignore Alexa to a certain extent ,the reason what I have seen so far is that Alexa does exactly opposite to what Google does.If Google analysis account shows that I have a drop in traffic my alexa rank improves and vice-versa.But I can't ignore the PR completely.It is acknowledged that the PR bar and function gives Google an added edge over other SE'S. Yes I do agree what matters is where the link of my website is placed and how are the pages of those website programmed for the Google spiders and other SE crawlers.

[Edwin]

Why would you ignore Alexa only to a certain extent?
Seriously, it's really something to drop entirely from your priority list, it's no priority whatsoever, just the thought you spend on thinking what your Alexa ranking is would be a waste of time.



You need to look at your traffic logs, (You're using Google Analytics right?), that's what matters...seriously. Alexa has no influence on your Google analytics reports and those reports is the thing that matters.

Just do your thing, continue to build backlinks and content and forget the whole green PR bar.
If you do nothing that is out of line with Google's webmaster guidelines then it will all be good in the long run.

Only Google knows your true PageRank so don't rely on Toolbar pagerank results.

If you're not in the business of selling links then you just need to focus on building content, backlinks and analyzing your traffic logs, see what pages do well in obtaining traffic from the SERP's and try to hold on to that position or improve.

So please stop worrying about Google's update!

[lovekissing]

maybe someone made a link bait of one of those 2...