I don't really understand the masses (Site Owners) clamoring for positioning in the quarterly Google PR updates. What's the use?

Forget Google PR, It’s All About “Real-Time” Data!

The “Holy Grail” in Digital Marketing is “Real-Time” Data.

Isn’t that really what the transition from HTML 4.01 to XHTML to XML, and CSS and the lot is all about?

I don’t really understand the masses (Site Owners) clamoring for positioning in the quarterly Google PR updates. What’s the use? That’s not “Real-Time” Data! I hope by now we all, anyone listed in the Google Directory @ http://directory.google.com/ knows we can go there and check a more in-depth “PR – GreenBar”, that encompasses more algorithm considerations and is updated more frequently than the “public” PR exhibited in the toolbar!

How do these Hosting Companies that don’t provide Statistical Packages remain in business?

That is only the first step. How can any web developer properly support themselves or clients without access to “Real-Time” Data? How on earth, without those tools do you effectively manage your or a client’s position for any key-phrase without that information?

The answer is: You don’t and you can’t!

Why would anyone continue to Host with a company that doesn’t provide both statistical packages and a control panel? Many provide multiple statistical packages.

Let’s go a step deeper though:

Google and Yahoo both grant API licenses in their “Developer Networks”

YAHOO and GOOGLE Both Have “Developer Networks” in Beta:

YAHOO’s Developer Network can be found here; http://developer.yahoo.net . Several applications are already developed and available on their “Applications Page”; http://developer.yahoo.net/wiki/index.cgi?  The “Application List” includes one of which is a “Link Popularity Checker using PHP and Yahoo API; http://www.checkurl.info/tools/link_popularity_checker.htm .

“The Link Popularity Checker enables you to check your domain names for their link popularity in any search engine that you desire, among them AllTheWeb, AltaVista, Google, HotBot, Msn, Overture and Yahoo. In addition it also checks the Google PageRank for each domain name…"

Accessing either of the API licenses must be granted, which then leads us to the “Google Developer Network”; http://www.google.com/apis/ , also in BETA.

Developer Kit Downloads and API Licenses are free and available from the links above.

Evidently, the data accessible and granted in these licenses is always behind, lagging "Real-Time". Unfortunately, this is the nature of the “Beast” and is a product of it’s complexity.

Take for example www.googlerankings.com . Going into a scheduled public PR update, I use it to determine directions I am headed in, on a Site...

Let's say for example, I am following 10 keyphrases for a Site and I go there ( www.googlerankings.com ) and input a check for position in the top 1000 Sites and find that they return me in 14th place. Next, I do a GOOGLE Search and find I am really in tenth position. I moved up 4 places in "real-time" and made 1st page.....

These are good indicators of which direction I am headed in the future (after any update), right?

The moral of the story is... SERPs and SERP changes are a lot more important than public PR updates. There are many good tools available if we use them correctly. By "correctly", I mean, let's face it, the SE's are offering free API licenses to most any developer, which afford valuable "real-time" data without penalty! If we don't like the tools that are already available out there now, then we can custom develop our own, right?

"Real-Time" Marketing Data is what it is all about in a digital world. The tools are there and it is not the quarterly public PR update, or how many back links we have, from anywhere.

Digital Marketing is all about “Real-Time” Data!

There’s really no other way to effectively promote yourself or a client.

The Google quarterly PageRank updates are nothing but public confirmation of achievement “after the fact”, having nothing to do with the mechanics of getting there!

Ken

About the Author

Ken Webster is a published, award winning technical author, US Patent Holder and Moderator on a leading Internet Webmaster Forum. His experience as Engineering Manager led him into the Marketing Arena where he got lost in that abyss @ www.mountaineagleweb.com .