Mommy Bloggers
SheCon 11 Women's New Media Conference, Miami - South BeachiPhone Photo by Janis Brett Elspas, MommyBlogExpert.com
To have a Google Page Rank or to not have a Google PR, that is the question. More importantly, what do these page rankings mean to moms with blogs and the brands we interact with?
I suspect that there are quite of few other moms and women like me who blog who are slightly baffled by all this to say the least. That's despite the fact that we've worked hard to build our blogs and understand the nuts and bolts about how everything works to become successful.
As mommy bloggers, we work tirelessly to do all the things we think we are supposed to do to establish and maintain our individual online presences. This includes -- but is not limited to
- Developing unique and well-written content for our targeted audiences
- Educating ourselves as much as possible about Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Building quality in-going and out-going links that generate traffic
- Networking and growing our professional skills both virtually and live at a variety of must-attend conferences for blogging women and moms like SheCon 11 and BlogHer and larger events that are not primarily female, but important to participate in, such as BlogWorld.
Actually, I've been pondering this question and trying to do all the right things, ever since I started Mommy Blog Expert about a 2-1/2 years ago -- and have yet to figure it all out. My own page ranking according to Google has gone up and down like a roller coaster, from a high of 3 to a low of 0 and currently at a 3 again. At times, especially lately there seems to be little correlation collectively between my blog's unique monthly visitors and page views and these mysterious numbers that Google owns.
To begin with: What is Google Page Rank anyway? According to Wikipedia, "PageRank" is a trademark of Google and the PageRank process holds a U.S. Patent through Stanford University. An interesting tidbit is that the "Page" reference in the proper name of the Google system used to rank every blog and website on the Internet does not reference to a noun, instead it is named after one of Google's founders, Larry Page.
Simply explained, the Google PR numbering system qualifies and quantifies the hypertext links leading into your blog and in fact, are more interested in quality over quantity. This means that PageRank is determined primarily not by the amount of the traffic on your blog, but by quality of the links that point to your blog from elsewhere in cyberspace.
Techzons just published a useful piece on June 30, 2011 that makes some progress into demystifying the PageRank system. It includes easy to understand ways on how to increase your PageRank as well as advice on things that decrease PageRank and how Google PageRank is calculated.
L to R: Danielle Keene & me at a California Milk Advisory Board Event
Just for the fun of it, I wanted to see how my Google PageRank of 3 rates against various sites and blogs I admire. To find out your own or any other site's or blog's ranking, all you have to do is visit and use the free PR Checker or just plug in the URL you're checking below.
Mommy Blog Expert's Little Experiment
As of date of publication of this post, here are the results (on a scale of 0-10 points) of the PRs for various home pages I checked.
Bloggy Moms, 5/10
BlogHer, 6/10
Martha Stewart, 7/10
Mom Bloggers Club, 6/10
Procter and Gamble, 7/10
She Blogs, 4/10
Social Moms, 5/10
Interestingly, two sites have the highest scores of any I researched:
PR Checker, 9/10
Google, 9/10
Gee, I wonder if getting a 10 Google PR is virtually impossible?
There are also other resources out there that you can use to measure your blog's reputation including Alexa and Compete. Both of these are highly respected by the industry as Google PR is, but Compete seems to be enjoying quite a bit of growth in popularity right now, especially with brands trying to measure bloggers like us moms.
Though my own score pales in comparison to the big league players, I'll just let it be. I just don't see any reason why I should obsess over my rankings on any of these measuring services right now. Besides, I've got to use what little energy I have left after mommy-ing four teens (triplets, 14 and big brother 15) to write and publish quality content on this mommy blog.
How about you? Why do you care (or not care) about PageRank according to Google? What do you think of the PageRank, Alexa, and/or Compete evaluation systems in general? I look forward to learning what other mom bloggers and also the brands targeting mommies feel about these and other lesser known ranking systems currently in use.
FTC Disclosure: I did not receive any payment or other compensation associated with this post. See complete FTC Disclosure information that appears at the bottom of MommyBlogExpert's main page and at the bottom of every individual post on this blog, including this one.
L to R: Danielle Keene & me at a California Milk Advisory Board EventiPhone Photo Courtesy of MommyBlogExpert.com
Just for the fun of it, I wanted to see how my Google PageRank of 3 rates against various sites and blogs I admire. To find out your own or any other site's or blog's ranking, all you have to do is visit and use the free PR Checker or just plug in the URL you're checking below.
Check Page Rank of your Web site pages instantly: |
This page rank checking tool is powered by Page Rank Checker service |
As of date of publication of this post, here are the results (on a scale of 0-10 points) of the PRs for various home pages I checked.
Bloggy Moms, 5/10
BlogHer, 6/10
Martha Stewart, 7/10
Mom Bloggers Club, 6/10
Procter and Gamble, 7/10
She Blogs, 4/10
Social Moms, 5/10
Interestingly, two sites have the highest scores of any I researched:
PR Checker, 9/10
Google, 9/10
Gee, I wonder if getting a 10 Google PR is virtually impossible?
There are also other resources out there that you can use to measure your blog's reputation including Alexa and Compete. Both of these are highly respected by the industry as Google PR is, but Compete seems to be enjoying quite a bit of growth in popularity right now, especially with brands trying to measure bloggers like us moms.
Though my own score pales in comparison to the big league players, I'll just let it be. I just don't see any reason why I should obsess over my rankings on any of these measuring services right now. Besides, I've got to use what little energy I have left after mommy-ing four teens (triplets, 14 and big brother 15) to write and publish quality content on this mommy blog.
How about you? Why do you care (or not care) about PageRank according to Google? What do you think of the PageRank, Alexa, and/or Compete evaluation systems in general? I look forward to learning what other mom bloggers and also the brands targeting mommies feel about these and other lesser known ranking systems currently in use.
FTC Disclosure: I did not receive any payment or other compensation associated with this post. See complete FTC Disclosure information that appears at the bottom of MommyBlogExpert's main page and at the bottom of every individual post on this blog, including this one.
I obsessed over it since the day I started my blog, which I found out after four months of obsessing was about two weeks AFTER the last PR update. With this last update, I found out that I made it to a PR3 and almost keeled over with excitement. Now I'm done obsessing, and I'll just continue focusing on good content and making connections with others, You know, the real reason we do a blog in the first place! I finally realized that my goal in life should not be to please Google, because they may be big shots now, but eventually all the big shots fall, and if I tailor my site to appeal to just them, I'll fall with them. Thank you for this informative article!
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