Thread: need help from the SEO / SEM gurus

need some help from you guys who are wiser in SEO and SEM -

we have a couple dozen websites and 4 of them are inter-related with real estate topics

iNet Directory
La Tigra Properties
Finca Ponderosa
Irina's Costa Rica

here is what we are seeing :

Irina's Costa Rica is an exact copy or the static pages for La Tigra Properties EXCEPT that it is a russian language site

why or how would it have a higher page rank than the original page at La Tigra Properties in english language ? I'm stumped ?

thanks for any analysis you can offer

Originally Posted by GringoBob

here is what we are seeing :

Irina's Costa Rica is an exact copy or the static pages for La Tigra Properties EXCEPT that it is a russian language site

why or how would it have a higher page rank than the original page at La Tigra Properties in english language ? I'm stumped ?

When I look up your site La Tigra has a PR of 2 and Irina has a PR of 1

two days ago it was the reverse - interesting ?

I am not really concerned because I think the page rank thing is wayyyy or mystified and was using this example to show the irony or lack of continuity in the "context and content" fabel

thanks for taking the time and update se

[quote=GringoBob;31585]two days ago it was the reverse - interesting ?

I am not really concerned because I think the page rank thing is wayyyy or mystified and was using this example to show the irony or lack of continuity in the "context and content" fabel

thanks for taking the time and update se

It could be they're so close in rank they switch because a bot crawled one more recently thank the other, and bots may have examined traffic or in bound links. And since they're the same they should be VERY similar in rank (pr2 and pr1 obviously).

Honestly, I would not even worry about what your site PR's are anymore. It is a system that has really deteriorated in value. Although I do find it a little odd that your russian version of the site has a higher PR than your english one...

I wouldn't say that PR is totally useless. If you exchange links it will help you get better quality links. Other than that it probably doesn't mean much though.

PR is not just what you see on your Google toolbar.. It represents some values.. Those values help you to get rankings.. PR pages has more link quality link backs.. They get crawled more than others.. etc etc...They can help you to get better rankings more than pages w/o PR....

To answer the original question, the Russian site having a higher PR at the time this webmaster posted could have been due to the language itself and lack of competition. I'm willing to be there are a huge amount of sites out there about Costa Rican property, written primarily in Russian. This could have been why the initial ranking was higher than the English site. There are many more English-based sites about Costa Rican property, I wager. Regardless, there are some things to be considered about PR in this day and age.

Indeed, I wouldn't focus as much on your sites' PR as perhaps on your actual ranking in the serps. The PR system has gone topsy-tervy these days, it seems there are no longer set-in-stone rules to explain PR anymore (and half the time, your site's actual PR is much different from what's shown on the toolbar).

Someone mentioned earlier on that PR can still be good for link-building, and they're absolutely right! Sites still look at PR as one of the main factors when deciding whether or not to trade links with other sites. Naturally, if you happen to get your link displayed on a site with a relatively high PR, your own PR tends to increase a little. This, however, doesn't necessarily affect your position in the serps. Many more factors than PR go into the indexing and ranking process.

The most important thing anyone can do for their sites right now is just to closely monitor where your site shows up in the search results, and work on expanding your web presence and readership to achieve higher ranking. With all of the user-generated content out there (such as white papers, video, audio and even images), simple concepts like link-building need to be taken to another level. Instead of simple link exchanges or viral marketing programs, try some actual "virtual community service." Offer opinions that will spark discussion, advice & suggestions and reviews on relevant sites (regardless of PR). Create your own content for the major sites like YouTube and make more use of web-based press releases. If you're a service provider, perhaps even offer a bit of assistance in your community (which will hopefully be mentioned on other websites, and in turn linked back to your site). This will help to build your reputation, expand your reach and in the end, will boost your PR (if that's still important to you).

To give a picture, our main website is practically new (less than months old), and the "virtual community service" we've been focusing on has helped to raise our PR to 3 already (not an easy feat for a new site). Our site (or content related to and linking back to our site) shows up within the top 4-5 results for each and every chosen keyword. Now that we've achieved this, we're simply working on maintaining those positions while building relationships with other relevant sites, or rapport with professionals in similar fields. Once these relationships are built, the quality links will follow.

We focus not on PR, but on the search results themselves. Do this, and PR will automatically fall into place. Good luck to all!

-Real Estate 360[SIZE=-1]

On page content has absolutely nothing to do with toolbar PageRank (TBPR). TBPR depends on backlinks pointing at a URL as well as a few other factors (e.g. paid links).