Snapshot even valid anymore?

I've been wondering, since the big daddy and infrastructure update, does the "snapshot" even exist anymore?

I ask, because last PR update, (I believe it was) my site was a 4 going in, it went to a 5 when everyone else's was changing. I believe due to a handful of PR7 links I had, well since the "snapshot" was taken, and everyone had updated PR, I changed those PR7 links.

The last update seemed to oscillate for about 2 weeks, but I eventually dropped from a 5 to a 4. Due to those PR7 links being changed, far after the PR update had begun.

So, I wonder if the "snapshot" is even how the public updates are approached under the current system and infrastructure. Maybe it's a bit late to test the theory, but I'd be interested if someone did.

Thanks.

 

Since the backlink update has happened, I have a little more info. Let me know if there is an error in this thinking, but in my backlinks, I have pages that were cached (with my link) on July 17th. This would seem to indicate the "snapshot" is not very static, if there even is one.

We all know the DP links are dynamic, I saw cached pages with my link from Jun 28th -> Jul 17th. That is a large window for a single "snapshot?"

I'm beginning to think at the time of update, google pushes all current data public, not data from a month ago, just all the data it has at the moment of the push... meaning there is no "snapshot" a month before a backlink update.

 

intresting theory but we cant confirm it....

 

one would think that in order to satisfy themselves that the PR export reflects the relative link voting results for every ranked page in the google index, one would think a spapshot moment was necessary,,

That moment should be the moment when a scheduled complete sweep of their index was completed.

That sweep might take, ages, the first to be checked would have acquired more links by the time the last to be checked had been verified, but overall, it might be a good idea for a snapshot to be taken at the end of say the June index review or what ever they call it

Just guessing, isn't this fun

 

I think the "snapshot" is has become less relevant due to the emphasis put on blogging these days and the fact that Google blog search was not keeping up with Technorati or Feedburner (which is why Google acquired FB) as far as time sensitive information.

btw, are you still seeing your PR6 and above backlinks? I'm experiencing a phenomenon where I'm not seeing any PR6+ backlinks even though I know they are still there. I was thinking it might be because of all the blog comment spamming that "black hat" seo's are doing....

 

centime,

It makes sense that it could take days or weeks, but it seems to include very recent data. The prevailing theory seems to be that if I get several PR7 links today, it's far too late. I'm guessing that may not be the case anymore. I think the "snapshot" is actually just the most recent data google has "processed."

scoobby,

Doesn't having data from yesterday in the backlinks snapshot say something? DP links don't stay around too long on a page, so that link is definitely not from 1 month ago.

Bryce,

I agree, I think they have sped up quite a bit. I'm not old enough in the SEO world to know about how the snapshot was, I just know last PR update, it appeared to not exist.

I know what you mean about the low PR backlinks showing. I don't know about a specific PR6 cut off, but I do know I have some higher ones I cannot find, and the ones I see appear to be low ones from deep link pages on other sites. Maybe part of their plot to confuse?

 

I think google has to put that element of confusion in to prevent the "Black Hat" seo's who are/were using backlink checker sites like this one (backlinkwatch.com that list backlinks and the backlink site's PR) to find those PR5+ places to spam comments.

Regarding the snapshot, if you think about it, Google's data is a true multi-dimensional matrix that is contunially updating, so the snapshot is just an element on the timeline that Google uses to cross reference when computing the ranking for a particular site. If an action occurs, such as the Googlebot finding a new link on a PR7 site, there would have to be some sort of relationship between the sites, so I'm thinking the PR7 site linking to you would have your site in their snapshot...

confusing, eh? Don't know what's more confusing, trying to figure out how Google really works or trying to figure out where the universe ends and begins

 

i agree. i see that every few days my backlinks get cached AND the page they're pointing to gets cached, that page's rank changes. i started counting that as a "cycle"