Q and A: Why has my Google PageRank dropped to zero?

Dear Kalena...

A couple of weeks ago our Google PageRank was 6/10. Not bad but room for improvement. This week I'm finally ready to work on this and my Google tool bar says the PageRank is 0/10. What happened? The only change I made was some contact info for our http://dmoz.org/ directory listing.

Diane

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Diane

Rest assured, your dmoz listing change has nothing to do with a drop in PageRank. It is more likely to be a toolbar glitch. I've seen my Toolbar show a PR0 for every site I visit, I've even seen a 10/10 for every site! It's just a bug that sometimes occurs if you upgrade your Browser version or use the tabbed browsing option. Closing down your browser and starting a new session should fix it, or simply re-install the toolbar.

In fact, I've just checked your site and it's showing a very healthy PR6 again. Panic over!


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Q and A: Is the Google PageRank update over?

Dear Kalena...

Is the google-pagerank update over? Or its still going on. Can you tell us something about it?

Thanks and Best Regards
Avik

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Avik

I've no idea. I don't spend a lot of time tracking database shuffles and PageRank updates. I'd rather spend my time working on my site to make it more user-friendly or up to date.

That said, I did notice a change in the Google Toolbar PR ranking for each of my sites over the past week or so. I don't know if it's a permanent change but I don't spend too much time fixating on the little green bar. It's not an accurate indicator of your true Google PageRank, only a very broad approximation. Don't sweat the small stuff Avik - just make your site a better place for your visitors and the search engine rankings will follow.

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Q and A: Does the SEO toolbar pose a privacy risk?

Dear Kalena...

My XoftSpy has been turning up "SEO Toolbar", three hits, and says they constitute "moderate risk." Should I remove them?

Peter

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Peter

I am assuming that XoftSpy is anti-spyware software of some kind? I've not heard of the SEO Toolbar, is it part of a search engine marketing software package you bought recently? If so, it might collect information about your search history in order to personalize your use of the software. This is fairly standard procedure for toolbar plug-ins (e.g. the Google Toolbar does it). This might be considered a moderate privacy threat by XoftSpy, hence the warning.

If you are concerned about what type of information the toolbar manufacturers are collecting about you, I suggest you write to the software manufacturer and ask them to clarify. Then you can make an informed decision about whether to remove or keep the toolbar.

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