PR 4 Site -- Not Indexed by Google!

[Aminka Ozmun]

Can anyone imagine a reason why not??

And is it still worth it to post content on such a site (for SEO purposes)??

Sorry, I can't divulge the name of the site! But FWIW, the PR's been checked both by two highly respected PR widgets, "Page Rank" and "SEO"....

[splok]

you're certain it isn't indexed? when you search for site:sitename.com nothing comes up?

You can check google webmaster tools and see if they've listed a specific problem with it and possibly file a reconsideration request if you can remedy the problem. Of course, if it's actually de-indexed, unless you've made a big investment into the site already, it may not be worth your time trying to fix it.

[Aminka Ozmun]

Originally Posted by splok

you're certain it isn't indexed? when you search for site:sitename.com nothing comes up?

Yes, I did and was quite shocked!

It's not my site; it's one of these "article directories" that's full of everything and nothing in particular so I was surprised it should rank so highly -- but even more surprised that it isn't indexed at all, despite the high PR!

Incidentally, Bing lists it.

[splok]

Article directories aren't exactly the most reputable places on the internet. They may have been doing something that Google considered shady. Also, pagerank isn't updated all that frequently (and can also be faked), so while some services may still list it at PR4, that may not be the case once it updates again.

But to answer the original question, I wouldn't bother putting content on it since there are so many other places to use. I doubt it would hurt, other than the time lost, but then, there's no way to really know.

[Aminka Ozmun]

Thanks, Splok!

I might still put up content on the site since it's indexed by Bing, at least, and I know of at least one person who swears by Bing and not Google!

I'd also imagine that the PR's not faked since it's been a "4" since before the summer, though I've only thought to see whether Google's listed it today.

[mikethedrummer44]

Probably because PageRank doesn't mean anything.

[Bradshaw]

Firstly, PageRank means very little and shouldn't be used as a measure for almost anything. Its use for someone who dabbles in the realm of search engine rankings is almost zero.

That's a lesson that most people who go into the dark depths known as SEO learn at some point. PageRank is a nice measure to look at, but it has little practical value for a webmaster.

The only use of a PageRank is that once you know a website has a PageRank that's not Zero or Nothing, then you can tell that Google considers it an established website.

Knowing this gives you the knowledge that you can be more liberal in sending tons of backlinks to it--something you can't exactly do with new websites. This is the only use of PageRank I've found.

Otherwise it means nothing. I have websites with PageRank 1 that are clearly and decisively outranking websites with PageRank 3. It's not a measure of anything.

As for article directories, many of them are shady and need to rethink their business models. Google is going to keep being merciless when it comes to inferior, spun or crappy content. Honestly the people with article directories are sticking to the old models too much.

A real business model for an article directory is a directory with experts on given topics who take photos, make videos and write high-quality articles. Not your average optimized 500-word articles, but real, indepth articles with pictures, videos, tables, lists and references--true high quality information that is accompanied by modern media, but this is almost impossible in an uncontrolled environment where anyone can submit any article or if the standards of submission are too low. This is why article directories are losing ground really quick, while websites like WiseGeek and WikiPedia still maintain a foothold--The content is good.

[Aminka Ozmun]

Bradshaw, mikethedrummer44;

I've heard that PR means nothing, and indeed Google explanined on their blog last year why they've finally removed the PR feature from their own toolbar -- 'cause it means very, very little -- but some SEO folks on WarriorForums.com still swear by it as an important indicator. These people point to the fact that in its original patent Google listed page rank as one of the ingredients of its algorithm or something....

I'll take your word for it, since this little experiment of mine obviously proves that PR isn't all that it's cracked up to be, but I'm still curious how the whole thing got started, then. Maybe it was a factor once but has since been deprecated??

[splok]

Well, the potential use for PR in this case would just be using your time wisely. If someone is going to build content for someone else's site to get a backlink, there's only so much of that a person can do in a certain time frame, unless they're automating it. All else being equal, I'm sure you'd rather have a link from a PR9 than a PR0.