dropped in SERPs after getting a PR8 link, doesnt make sense

[freestylezz]

Hello Warriors,

Can you help me understand why would my website drop from page 4 to page 9 (or 11,12,13, it seems to be dancing for some keywords, others remain where they originally were) after we got a PR8 homepage link about 10 days ago. Our understanding was that we would improve in SERPs

doesn't make sense

[kruzman]

Probably it's just a temporary Google dance. Just keep them links coming!

[LiamP]

I'd say correlation and causation are two different things here. i.e. Your site would have dropped anyway for unrelated reasons and the PR8 link wasn't enough to change it.

Give it a couple of months for the PR8 link to really flex its muscle.

[RevSEO]

Assuming that you don't have a solid backlink foundation already a PR8 link could temporarily throw you in the sandbox. Make sure NOT to remove the link until you jump back up in the SERPs.

Where did you bounce down to and what was your rank before?

[freestylezz]

I think we've had good backlink foundation. We've been building links naturally for last 8 months. This had also happened before about couple of months ago but we were fully removed from the SERPs for about a week. We were back but it was 5-6 pages below the original position.

This time however, we were dropped from page 4 to page 13 (just today) only 10 days after we finally secured a PR8 homepage link (for the key phrase that was anchored at the pr8 link, other key phrases has the same position)

[BarryWheeler]

There are so many factors that may be contributing to this. It's not simply because you have a PR8 link. That's probably just a coincidence.

Look at other things such as your social interaction, content, age of the domain, etc.

I've seen several of my sites rank for a few weeks on page 1, then start the Google dance.

Don't worry about what's happen just yet, give it time.

Concentrate on content, increasing your social exposure etc.

[paulgl]

LOL! The new way to toss a site in a fantasy sandbox: Give it a PR8 link!

Yeah baby! That'll show em! Take this mean PR8 link and die!

In the first place, I'd sure like to see that PR8 link.

Doubtful if it really is a PR8 link anyway.

Judging by threads here, people are clueless as to what a PR8,
or any PR link, actually is.

Paul

[RevSEO]

Originally Posted by paulgl

LOL! The new way to toss a site in a fantasy sandbox: Give it a PR8 link!

Yeah baby! That'll show em! Take this mean PR8 link and die!

In the first place, I'd sure like to see that PR8 link.

Doubtful if it really is a PR8 link anyway.

Judging by threads here, people are clueless as to what a PR8,
or any PR link, actually is.

Paul

While I won't disagree with you that a majority of the users here don't know the difference between a link that is actually on a PR8 page vs a link on a page that's on a domain with a PR8. I'll have to continue to disagree with you about your "fantasy" sandbox theory.

If the "sandbox" is made up, then what exactly is "it" and why are so many people wrong?

Second - while a PR8 link seems like a far stretch. It really isn't that hard to get one if you know where to look/who to pay. It seems like the OP knows what he's talking about and actually has a PR8 homepage link.

[scott g]

I don't understand why people are so BLOODY obsessed with high PR backlinks... Like that's going to make anything better... Or that a really high PR backlink is the magic bullet... That's all BS!

You don't know the Google algorithm and neither do I...

From my experience I've discovered that GOOGLE is a very big fan of ON-SITE OPTIMIZATION... OFF-SITE OPTIMIZATION is the BOOSTER...

Also, from my personal experience NoFollow/DoFollow backlinks do not differ in any way... Does PR link juice really flow down from DoFollow backlinks?! B/c Google counts both Do and NoFollow backlinks REGARDLESS... So are they really giving that much weight to one or the other!??!?!?

Get the ANCHOR TEXT of your backlinks right. Do NOT leave backlinks on sites that are BLACKLISTED or know to be SPAM... Those two factors right there will boot you out of the top hundred alone...

My 3cents... I haven't been on WF for awhile... I could type more and go into more depth but I feel that the majority of WF members really don't care...

They just want that magic HIGH PR Backlink bullet... Which doesn't exist...

Keyword/competition research
OnSite Optimization
OffSite Optimization (and diversified)(natural looking doesn't exist when you go on a rampage to build so don't worry about building too many too fast. Relevance is still questionable in my book).

My opinion has been formed after 2 1/2 years of building websites and through trial and error ranking them HIGHLY for targeted keywords.

Google Webmaster Tools Reconsiderations do help as well... IMO!


CHEERS!


***EDIT
Paul doesn't it get redundant?!?!

[BarryWheeler]

Didn't Cutts confirm a "sandbox effect" back about 5 or 6 years ago? Something like the Google Algorithm would impact some niches?

[freestylezz]

@paulgl
link is in fact from a PR8 site, on the homepage. This website has 40,000 unique backlinks and is a close partner of Joomla, while mozRank being 8.08 (i think that qualifies it, no?). We didnt purchase the link, we simply asked for it since we traded services (and there are only 4 OBL including our link so it doesn't even look spammish). Our site however has links coming from only 250 domains (mostly pr3-5)

@scott g
I'm not saying PR is the only factor that determines the SERPs but it indeed is one of the factors (at least according to our own research) but then again noone really knows google algorithm, we can only make educated guesses. btw, interesting point about ensuring no links on blacklisted websites but then again if that is indeed true, shouldnt we all link our competitors on blacklisted site. just a thought lol

@BarryWheeler
I understand what you mean. We compared 10 most sought after SEO factors of our 100 competitors for one of the most important key phrase in our industry. Our research only reassured that on-page optimization, number of unique domain back-links (and their context) and site PR plays plays important roles in determining SERPs.

@revSEO
I'm looking forward to your network's launch, Ive signed up for it. are you gonna be selling permanent links?

[freestylezz]

could it be due to PR update? few of our sites were PR0 yesterday and PR3 today. Everything is happening around the same time

[JamesGw]

Your PR8 link probably had nothing to do with it.