Google’s PR 0 for Directories

Google handed many directory operators a brown bag full of cat manure in this last Page Rank Update with PR 0 for their directories. One directory I’m affiliated with WoW Directory was one of the effected directories. WoW had no cross linking, no run of service advertising and has always maintained its editorial integrity. So the question is why a PR 0 for WoW?
Basically I think its Google using a twofold fear factor; scare the directory operator and the webmaster considering submission. The PR 0 can scare the directory operator into using nofollow and making numerous other unnecessary changes. The webmaster considering submission on the other hand is going to read nothing but bad into a PR 0 and probably will not submit.

The strange part is that these 0 Page Ranks do not act like the normal PR 0. Normally if a website receives a PR 0 you will see a reduction in Google traffic. WoW is still receiving the same amount of Google referrals. You would also see a drop in position for competitive keywords and the related traffic from them. WoW Directory has two keyword phrases that bring the most traffic to the main page; website directory and free submission directory. Website directory normally bounces between 3 and 4 and still does.
http://www.google.com/search?q=webs...avclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B3GGGL_enUS212US212
Free Submission Directory is normally is 6th position and still holds this position. http://www.google.com/search?q=free...avclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B3GGGL_enUS212US212

The important question is does the directory still pass link juice? I checked numerous submissions by www.domainname.com + wow directory and was able to come up with a directory link for nearly every link I tried.
The number of cached pages WoW has is also not working correctly. It shows 1,940,000 cached pages and on rare occasions 386,000. The 1,940,000 cached pages have been at that number for months. Normally the number of cached pages goes up and down at least slightly but at times quite a bit.

I have found similar symptoms in other established directories with PR 0 and can only conclude that the directories still have the value of page rank but somehow the page rank has been set not to display. Unfortunately the webmaster considering submission is never going to understand this and will probably consider it a bad neighborhood and not submit.

 

We can make up whatever theories we like about why PR is showing as 0, but to think that Google can be bothered to go to the lenght's to hide PR is wishful thinking. If PR is 0 then that's just what it is with no big brother theory attached. Don't worry about it, work hard to prove a point to Google and the PR will come back as sure as anything.

 

Hello...


The thing is that this is supposed to be about improving the "quality of search" which i haven't seen yet to be
honest, and theres also to many inconsistencies between directories gaining/losing in PR...

We can all agree they can do whatever they please with their PR which is fine as people will continue to submit
to directories using other aspects to measure that directories strengths and weaknesses and conclude on their own decision
whether they feel its worthy to submit too.

thx
malcolm

 

i believe u r probably right,and this theory maybe is very close to reality but even if this is the case we all know that the 90% at least of submiters wont see it that way..

 

This phenomene dont affect only directories . but alos the other kind of sites .
I have 2 sites which dropped to PR0 . last 15 days .
But they still conserve the same value of the old Pagerank ( traffic and positions )
But in other site , i bserverd some decrease on the indexed pages

 

Well, if you lost PR in the last few days, your ranking in the SERP may not be affected by it YET. Dropping PR is a different from dropping a rank. Mine dropped to PR4 but didn't lose rankings for a while. It went down to PR3, still kept the high rankings with many keywords.

But then it got PR0 with no rankings. The site got PR3 back, so I am expecting to increase the ranking again if the pattern is applicable.

As for link juice, I think it's really up to Google. I haven't seen any general pattern that explains why Google passes PR points from a directory link. My guess is that Google penalized those directories manually, instead of its robot. So, it is a case by case situation. I don't believe Google robot can penalize sites that sell links automatically yet. Webdirectory.com has been selling links on its home page, even link to irrelevant sites. I have noticed that the PR points are not given to those sites that bought links on Webdirectory.com some time ago before Google penalized aviva, alive, and other big boys.

I didn't figure that out why, but I was simply informed that Google uses their staffs to weed those sites out later on. That's why Google's penalization on many sites are probably done manually. I don't think we can draw any conclusion to see how its robot is functioning to penalize sites.

 

Google should make its policy towards directory clearly, It looks this time, it aims big directory.
any other big website besides directory got affected?

 

google is trying to kill the act of buying links for pr
a lot of directories have been used as a way of paying for links under the guise of a web directory and thats why I think they've been targetted
there doesnt seem to be any real pattern as to which dirs have been given PR0 so until theres more information it could be manual or not

 

Now that, Google really needs to provide and clarify. It's only fair if they explain, instead of making things unclear. Their effort not to reveal how SE robot works is causing lots of troubles among webmasters basically.

I think directories are easy target for them since many directories are paid. But then why they don't penalize Yahoo! directory? If they say, "well theirs is a quality directory!", then they should explain what factors are for a directory to be quality in Google's eyes. Otherwise, we tend to think "Google is doing whatever they want!"

 

There are only a couple of words coming to my mind...

Divide et Impera

 

I love a bit of latin, 'divide and rule', Google do that, nope, just the rule bit for them.

 

Google can do whatever they want. The truth is they can not stop anyone from making money off of directories. Now If google wants to keep playing this game then all we have do is build secret directories which are never advertised to the public. Pump those directories pr up and offer the link juice to a few selected webmasters. As long as the webmasters keep their mouth shut then everything will be fine and all will be happy.

So google can do whatever they feel they need to do in order to try and kill the market, but this is just going to lead to more problems for google to try and figure out.

 

I have had this same opinion for awhile - I have no proof but have noticed many instances like you mention to make me think this. Nice to see I am not the only paranoid person.

I do like Wow and have a couple sites listed there. That category structure is immense and I wonder how it was done.

 

wish pumping up pr was THAT easy





_

 

Romow.com keeps PR4 and growing strongly. (though it deserves PR6)

there are still some difference in Google eyes?

 

Why.... you can buy a "text link" on any site with high PR in private or
use the services off text link brokers and get the same effect if its
what you really want...

But at what cost? If anything PR has turned into a high priced business for those that seek it...
Will it bring you targeted traffic and visitors looking for your products and services ?

I guess that depends on if your selling it or just want to look important or whatever
as its just hit and miss for any given site or directory anymore and manually incorrect

thx
malcolm

 

It is real easy when your site is not being watched. The only reason alot of directories are not updating is because someone at google thinks this is the answer to making the web better. Yeah right, discounting links from sites that are 100% relevant to each other is the best way to improve the web.

The sad thing right now is that since google refuses to give out honest pr then the only other way to get things done is to go behind their back, and who cares if you get caught, they were going to slam you anyway if you did things right so why not do it in a fashion that will take them longer to detect.

Well as I said before, welcome to "Google's Army" where every site get's punished for one sites mistakes.

 

jeeez dont be angry at me I was just replying to him sarcastically

and PR is not a hit and miss it has a strong algo behind it with tons of factors affecting it. People who dont understand it will be just buying high pr links blindly or keep cursing it

and no way I care about pr of my sites as long as people keep visiting them regularly



_

 

No wasnt gearing it towards you sorry if it sounded that way

Was just trying to say that its not solved anything and only created a higher
priced game with certain quality sites getting manually screwed in the mean time

thx
malcolm

 

One sites mistakes? You clearly haven't kept your finger on the pulse.