I had a few pages with PageRank 2-4 before (see attached image) I then changed my permalink structure, but I'm sure I've used a 301 redirection. As you can see, if you go to http://www.michaelaulia.com/blogs/2008/03/thief-stop-hot-linking-my-image.html, you will be forwarded to my new permalink structure. All my pages are unranked now (including that one, which was PR4 before) What seems to be wrong? Do I have to wait for the next Google PageRank update to get it ranked again? I thought 301 is supposed to "forward" the ranking as well to the new URL?
You serious? I thought I heard from some "SEO experts" that a 301 Redirect is the "safest" migration around
It is the safest (and only good) way to do this. The PR Toolbar doesn't update in real time. The value is calculated every few months, and the PR value seems to be "attached" to a URL. Your URLs are different than they were at the last update , so there isn't a record of them. The real PR should be similar to what it was before the 301, but you'll need to wait for the next toolbar update before you'll get the green bars.
Ow.. no wonder I've been seeing a decrease in search engines traffic lately. Thanks guys, guess I'll have to wait til the next update (around end of this month/August?)