Google Pagerank Hosting Theory
In SEO | 5 comments | permalink
You are probably aware that there has recently been a Google pagerank update. DeanHunt.com is now pr4 despite zero link trading and the fact that half of my link strength is being leaked 
But there have been a few things that I have found quite strange about this update.
Firstly, two of my sites have dropped in pagerank, but increased in the SERPS. Personally I am very happy with this, and I suppose it is yet more proof that pagerank has very little effect on the rankings in Google.
However, two of the sites in question dropped from pr6 to pr4, this may not sound too strange, but bear in mind that since the last update we have increased the quantity and quality of the links to the sites. So this is quite confusing.
There is however one thing that both these sites have in common….. THEY ARE BOTH ON DIFFERENT SERVERS THAN THEY WERE IN THE LAST UPDATE.
Could this just be coincidence?
If you like a good conspiracy theory then it is only fair that I share some of the facts with you:
1) I own and run MANY sites, but these two sites are the ONLY sites to have less pagerank than the last update.
2) Both sites are powerful sites, and there has been some increase in traffic, links, quality of links and content since the last update. At the very least I expected these sites to stay as PR6.
3) Both sites went down to the EXACT same amount PR4 from PR6
4) Both sites changed server since the last update.
5) The sites are on DIFFERENT servers to each other.
6) NONE of my other sites lossed pagerank this update & NONE of my other sites were moved from my main server
7) I haven’t done any link selling on one of the sites, but I have used Text Link Advertising on the other.
PR6 is the pagerank level where selling links becomes very profitable. So in theory it would make sense for Google to target sites with PR6 and above.
Perhaps it is a new factor that Google have added that has effected us, but other than a change of servers there hasn’t been much change to the sites.
So could this be a measure to prevent people from buying websites with the purpose of selling links? could it be a new filter for sites that have been bought recently?
Bear in mind that the WHOIS info is the same as always, so the only change is the server. Could Google use the quality of the other sites on the server as a factor?
I appreciate this isn’t a huge sample, and is far from conclusive proof, but it certainly is strange.
If anyone has noticed anything similar then please let me know.
Dean
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