Google Finishes Off 2009 By Waving The PR Wand
It’s now 2010 in Aussieland and I’ve awaken to the new year to discover that the almighty Google has waved his magic wand once again and in all it’s misplaced wisdom he’s decided to downgrade some of my blogs, including this one.
WassupBlog is no longer a PR4! Nope it’s now a PR3 which makes no sense because since the last update Wassup’s popularity has increased by a sizable margin, so even though I wasn’t expecting to go up, nor did I expect to go down.
But, you know what? I don’t give a rat’s arse what PR Google decides to place on any of my blogs, because as far as I’m concerned PR is pretty well useless other than a measuring stick that is used to wave in front of advertisers to command a higher price.
Which reminds me, I’m gonna have to change my Advertise Here page. Hey guys, where are you all running off to? PR3 is still pretty good. Oh come on. 
There is also another reason why I stopped caring about PR long ago, and that’s because I found it always placed pressure on me to improve my rankings. Once I worked out that pressure was cramping my blogging style I stopped worrying about PR and I’ve never looked back since. I started enjoying blogging again, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s what counts.
So, how did you guys all fare…..up, down or stayed as you were?
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Tagged with: Add new tag • Google • PageRank
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Happy New Year. Even though it’s still over 4 hours away here.
Anything exciting happen in 2010 yet..Wait don’t tell me. I don’t want to spoil the news you have heard already but I haven’t because I’m still living in the past..
Sorry your ranking dropped.
Mine held steady at 0PR so I am pretty happy about that.
Glen´s last blog ..9 Great Resolutions Everyone Needs to Make
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Sire Reply:
December 31st, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Same to you Glen, I hope 2010 brings you great joy.
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I’m still in the pit also, Sire, sitting on 0, probably for life. But that’s okay, as I’m working on Alexa instead. Well, I’m actually working on more subscribers, but the two seem to go hand in hand in some fashion.
Mitch´s last blog ..What’s The Deal With Disqus?
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Sire Reply:
December 31st, 2009 at 9:38 pm
It’s all good Mitch, as long as we enjoy what we’re doing. Good luck in 2010 mate.
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Sad to hear you dropped PR. I got an initial PR of 1, and a couple of my other blogs got PR2!
Tom@Surveys For Money´s last blog ..More Online Surveys For Cash
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Sire Reply:
January 1st, 2010 at 7:06 am
Don’t worry about me Tom, I’m cool with what’s happened. Glad you got a lift in PR mate.
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Page Rank.
Bah.
So many people get wrapped around the axle about something they have no control over: Google’s opinion of their web site!
Dave Doolin | Website In A Weekend´s last blog ..Life is Short. What Do You Have to Show for Yourself?
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Sire Reply:
January 1st, 2010 at 7:06 am
That’s what I reckon Dave, and that’s why I don’t worry about it anymore.
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I think if we get concerned with Page Rank then we’re basically working for Google. Google constantly changes its algorithms, one can’t keep up.
Happy New Year everyone!
Gordie´s last blog ..Look, Mom! My Blog’s Sprouting Pubes!
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Sire Reply:
January 1st, 2010 at 7:08 am
Too right Gordie. All I want from Google is some really big checks. They can keep the PR.
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Though in my early days I’m pretty worried about PR like I did on Alexa Rank but after sometime I understand those are two big weapon to fool advertiser. Since my blog is never advertiser friendly, I never put care on it. I just want to stick with basic SEO to get better search traffic. That’s it.
Arafat Hossain Piyada´s last blog ..11 Search Term That Can Spoil Your New Year Party (Security Alert)
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Sire Reply:
January 1st, 2010 at 9:08 am
Yes indeed, building search traffic is very important because if we don’t get people to read our blogs, what’s the point of writing on them?
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Hi Sire. In my opinion, PR doesn’t matter much. It’s always better to have higher traffic rather than higher PR. So you don’t need to worry about your PR. Happy new year ;-)
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That’s the idea Isaac, you build the traffic to get them to your blog and then the content keeps them coming back.
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My blog stayed at a PR of 3, but I suppose that staying put is better than a reduction or nothing at all, so I’m happy ;)
Karen @ Blazing Minds´s last blog ..Blazing Minds Monthly Round Up! For December 2009
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Sire Reply:
January 1st, 2010 at 6:57 pm
Sure is Karen, and I reckon you may want to get rid of the Santa hat
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Interesting post Sire. I really must agree with the fact that analytics/PR whatever can become such a stress/focus that you lose connection with the real reason you were blogging or working on your website.
We’re in an interesting period in my eyes. I’m talking in respect to starting a blog or getting into this for the first time. There is so much information, so many options, so many products that can be used to help your blog, but people get lost in it all and it prevents them from getting into it for the right reason – passion and blogging about that passion.
Something takes over and the passion is put off to the side to get everything else right. Once my page rank is 5, i’ll start so and so…. or “not sure what analytics service to use” or “maybe we should consider a different design.”
It all cramps the blogging habit and style. Create content, hustle, network and love it – don’t fuss the little things.
Use safari and don’t look at the firefox pagerank lol
Scott Webb´s last blog ..Annual Review 2009: My Top Photographs of the Year
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Sire Reply:
January 1st, 2010 at 7:01 pm
LOL. I’m actually using Chrome and have to fire up Firefox when I hear there’s been an update. Although it doesn’t really bother me which way my PR went, knowing that there may be have been an update will get my curiosity going.
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Happy new year! Sire, funny, even though you were saying you didn’t give a rats arse about PR it was fairly obvious you were steaming mad. And rightly so because we all have been conditioned to bow to the almighty PR. Google has made this indexing formula so complicated that even the obvious successes among us get bitch slapped.
I look at it like this; If I were to describe your blog I would compare it to a person who is having an annual physical with his doctor: the doc says, well Mr. Sire, you are in tip top shape, the only concern I might have is a **** which means nothing as far as your overall health is concerned. I would give you a 9/10 score on life! So go out and live it!
Want to know what really gets me hot about commenting? Is when you read your comment that you left on that other blog and it’s full of double underlined words!
Dick´s last blog ..Travel slump hurts Scottsdale hotels http://azc.cc/chnJ5
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Sire Reply:
January 1st, 2010 at 7:07 pm
Hey Dick, what gave you the impression that I was steaming mad, because I wasn’t upset at all. The ‘rat’s arse’ was my poor attempt to add colorful language to the post.
At least you won’t have to worry about the double lines in the comments on this blog as I’ve solved that problem.
Happy New year mate.
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RQR went up! From N/A to 1, that is…
Yeah, that blog hasn’t been around for long yet. :P
As for all my other sites: I have no idea. I simply don’t care about PR at all.
Do your advertisers actually react to the PR change?
Shane´s last blog ..Backlinks (RQR Basics)
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Sire Reply:
January 1st, 2010 at 7:12 pm
I don’t have that many advertisers, but I know that a PR commands a lot more weight when doing paid posts. That being the case it would also apply to advertisers.
If I was to advertise on a blog though, I would be looking for traffic more than PR.
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My Google toolbar is still showing no information for most sites… while I’m excited when I do get a PR update, I try not to worry about it too much, as the most important thing advertisers should consider is the amount of traffic a site gets, not its PageRank!
Kikolani @ Blogging´s last blog ..Fetching Friday – The First Resources Mashup of 2010
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Sire Reply:
January 1st, 2010 at 7:14 pm
Hey Kristi, we must think alike because I said the exact same thing, or close enough, in my last comment.
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Happy New Year Sire and everyone else.
I have to agree with Gordie and Arafat.
Similar to Arafat, my main concern is being on page 1 of many search engines when prospective clients search for my type of service. I usually just type in numerous search terms and make sure I’m still showing up ahead of my competitors.
It seems to much effort is put into pleasing the mighty web god known as Google. I wonder if it would be possible to unite a day without Google? To have everyone worldwide avoid logging on to any Google site at all for 24 hours. Hmmm…
p.s. If my site mysteriously goes down we’ll all know why!
Aaron´s last blog ..Life or Death Fitness
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Sire Reply:
January 1st, 2010 at 7:33 pm
I’ve always considered SERPS to be more important Aaron, and if I was going to tackle anything it would be that rather than PR.
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HI Sire it hit me with a pants 1! I have only been up and running 8 weeks though. Like Mitch said I prefer to look at Alexa, although a lot of people don’t like it.
To be honest though I think a lot of the ranking tools are flawed, because the never seem to marry up with each other and reflect what is actually happening.
Anyway good to hear we not the only ones!
TheInfoPreneur´s last blog ..Can You Ever Run Out Of Content Ideas?
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Sire Reply:
January 1st, 2010 at 7:36 pm
Actually I just do what I have to do in the hope that people like it enough to subscribe or comment or whatever. If I do it right everything else will fall into place. If I don’t I only have myself to blame.
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My PR still at a 3.. Still at? I can’t remember if it was a 2 or 3 before. Don’t matter! I stop caring about PR long ago. I rank well for many keywords that’s because I focus on ranking and less on PR.
Rose´s last blog ..Generate Traffic to your blog
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Sire Reply:
January 2nd, 2010 at 2:16 am
That’s good because I believe ranking is more important than PR.
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Mine is steady at PR 2.
Dana @ Blogging Update´s last blog ..Blog in New Year 2010
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Happy New Year my friend!
Dennis Edell´s last blog ..PLEASE COMMENT – Have You EVER Used The Added Feature Of My Subscribe To Comments Plugin??
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Sire,
My page rank increased but like many people it’s not something I focus on. I honestly don’t care so much about the number of visitors either – I’m more concerned with the number and the quality of the comments that people leave on my blog. I love the interaction. That’s why I’m glad I joined Blog Engage. The members are very supportive and there is plenty of interaction. I’d rather have 20 visitors that leave valuable comments than 2,000 that never do.
Thanks for the post.
@Ileane
Ileane @Blogging´s last blog ..Google Page Rank on a WordPress.com Blog
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Sire Reply:
January 2nd, 2010 at 8:30 pm
Hi Ileane, welcome to WassupBlog. I like you value interaction, and you can’t have interaction if you don’t interact, which is why I am constantly amazed at those blogs where the blogger does not reply to comments.
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I certainly cared about traffic more than PR. I wish Alexa was a bit more accurate. Nonetheless, I do trust Analytics more than Alexa. If the graph goes down, that’s where I start thinking. If direct advertisers dwindle, then there must be something wrong.
Just my two cents.
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Sire Reply:
January 2nd, 2010 at 11:47 pm
Yeah, wouldn’t it be nice if you could just rely on one site for all your accurate stats?
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I can’t stand the PR ranking. I personally think it is worhtless. Sad thing is, however, on the human nature side of it, PR is important. So many people put so much weight into it…they don’t want to have anything to do with a site or blog just because the little toolbar indicates it is below a certain pr grade. Regardless of how good the site or blog is.
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That’s true Kathleen, but I still believe that there are many astute people who would rather advertise on a busy low ranking site, rather than a dead high ranking one.
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My blog went from a four to a three also. Interestingly search traffic is up in the last few days.
>Once I worked out that pressure was cramping my blogging style I stopped worrying about PR
Which is exactly hat Google wants, focus on content that the rankings and traffic will come.
Ned Carey´s last blog ..Today’s Quote
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Sire Reply:
January 5th, 2010 at 5:12 pm
The traffic will come Ned but I’m not sure that the ranking is related. That’s why it’s not worth worrying about. The way Goolge works out PR is continually changing and does not reflect the actual worth of the blog.
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