16 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
16 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

PageRank and robots.txt

by TaraCarson
13 replies
  • SEO
    • |
If you were to block Google with a disallow in robots.txt, would your site still have PageRank? Or would it eventually disappear?
#pagerank #robotstxt
  • Profile picture of the author sojibrahman
    I think no pagerank will give google for your website
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8066801].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author jeff09
    If you have a PR earlier, this will remain for your site
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8067076].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author TaraCarson
      Originally Posted by jeff09 View Post

      If you have a PR earlier, this will remain for your site
      What if the number/quality of inbound links changes, would the PR continue to change?

      Say you have a site normal site that's a PR3, you get some good backlinks, and lets say it shoots up to PR6.

      Now pretend that at some point while it was a PR3, you block all robots including Google with robots.txt. Google no longer indexes the site. If you get the same good backlinks, will you still shoot up to a PR6 in spite of no longer having your own content indexed? Or would it be frozen in time at 3, until you let the Googlebot back in, then it would update?
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8067137].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author online only
    Don't listen to those "SEO experts". If you block google robots your certain page will soon get deindexed from Google and therefore will loose it's Pagerank.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8067149].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author TaraCarson
      Originally Posted by online only View Post

      Don't listen to those "SEO experts". If you block google robots your certain page will soon get deindexed from Google and therefore will loose it's Pagerank.
      That's what I thought, just didn't want to actually bother with testing it. Thanks
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8067154].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author karismasand
        Originally Posted by TaraCarson View Post

        That's what I thought, just didn't want to actually bother with testing it. Thanks
        Tara, If you still post content in the site and have readers that come directly on the site and share your content then you will get link juice.

        If you froze your website [not posting content] and put noindex; nofollow to your website pr will remain at least 3 months on actually PR but in time PR will decrease because of backlinks dilution.

        If you decide to froze your site right now with PR3 but the site receive strong backlinks from the last update your site can go to PR6 with no problem.

        PR is related to backlinks not to content so as long the backlinks point to your website PR will stay even you deindex your content [you don't delete the page, content remain there so if i come from a backlink i will find the content there ]

        Hope that helps you!

        Good luck!
        Signature

        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8067178].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author patco
      Originally Posted by online only View Post

      Don't listen to those "SEO experts". If you block google robots your certain page will soon get deindexed from Google and therefore will loose it's Pagerank.
      Yes. And this will happen just maybe a few days after the next PR update! I am really curious -> Why did you create a website and then want to disable Google to visit it?
      Signature

      A blog that will show you How to Lose Weight with a cool Quick Weight Loss guide...
      Also enjoy some of my favorite Funny pictures and photos that will make you smile :)

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8067549].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author TaraCarson
        Originally Posted by patco View Post

        Yes. And this will happen just maybe a few days after the next PR update! I am really curious -> Why did you create a website and then want to disable Google to visit it?
        I have a couple dozen sites I use for testing various theories before deploying them for a paying client, I'm always trying different things. One idea was to take a site that already had PageRank and block Google from visiting it. If PR were retained, I could build some reciprocating links without using nofollow, but since Google couldn't see "me", just the fact that some other site linked to me, then they would see them as one way. If PR continued to accrue it would look like I had high PR inbounds and no outbounds.

        But it's one of those ideas that requires a lot of time to experiment with so I figured I'd ask if anyone else had tried it first and save myself the trouble.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8068048].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author paulgl
          Originally Posted by TaraCarson View Post

          I have a couple dozen sites I use for testing various theories before deploying them for a paying client, I'm always trying different things.
          I cannot believe that you are taking paying clients and don't know what
          happens when you block google?!?!?!?!

          Am I the only one insane enough to think that?!?!?!

          Holy crapola.

          Paul
          Signature

          If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8072081].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author ilikepie
      Originally Posted by online only View Post

      Don't listen to those "SEO experts". If you block google robots your certain page will soon get deindexed from Google and therefore will loose it's Pagerank.
      I'm not certain how it goes by a single page, directory or what so ever.

      I have how ever some domains which are not allowed to crawl (robots.txt rule). They still have their pagerank they had before, about pagerank 1-2. This happened more then a year ago and is still the same today.

      With robots.txt you can give the spiders (not all spiders) access to your website (and some others things). This does how ever not mean that you won't get any linkjuice or will loose any.

      In one of the many videos which is released by Google/Matt he also explains why a website, in his case a US government one. Gets indexed with even a title and description while the full website is not accessible for the spiders. He explained that this happened because Google gathers information and can combine that to sort something out which fits the website its profile. It also had a good ranking on the gathered keywords, so in fact it was ranking without any known content! Why do I write this? It simply states that Google still adds value to those websites and if I remember well that website had also a high PR.

      This sounds tempting to reproduce but this scenario is from some time ago (years). Plus I bet most people can not compete with the amount of quality backlinks which a .GOV gets.

      [edit] I watched the short video above me, he is making there a reference to that California website. There is a longer (and older?) video where he is using that website as example for a longer story.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8071998].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author squadron
    In my experience if you block Google via .htaccess or robots.txt you will lose PageRank very quickly (next time it tries to crawl your site plus a day or so).

    The good new is the PR will come back just as quickly if you fix it.
    Signature
    2020 - Another Year of Bitcoin

    Wordpress Help
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8067424].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author ShivJaiswaL
    after blocking website via robots.txt, it will still show the PR around 30 days then after n/a.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8068008].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author magoo12
    Originally Posted by TaraCarson View Post

    If you were to block Google with a disallow in robots.txt, would your site still have PageRank? Or would it eventually disappear?
    I think it's opposite day on warrior forum (or I completely missed the point of your question). Disallowed sites and pages still accrue pagerank. Obviously, if google can't visit them though, the outbound links won't pass juice.

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8071911].message }}

Trending Topics