Posted in Google on Mar 15, 2008
Sometimes the Google Toolbar gets stuck at 0 when searching the web. If you are unsure of the PageRank of a page, go to a high PageRank site (like http://www.w3c.org) and then type the address of where you were just at in the address bar of Internet explorer. Usually this technique will unstick the PageRank.
Keep in mind that Google has only been updating toolbar display PageRank about once every 3 months, so if a site is only a few months old, it will not be uncommon for it to show a PageRank 0 in the toolbar. Also remember that PageRank is only a rough approximation of authority.
To find out who is linking to your competitors, you can type "link:www.evilcompetitor.com" in the Google search box. Keep in mind that Google only shows a small sample of inbound links and other search engines show more/better linkage data.
The toolbar is just an aid and should be combined with common sense. If you see sites linking into awful websites or if a site looks sketchy, then it may not be a good place to get a link from.
If you use the Safari browser, you can use the PageRank Toolbar Widget for the Mac from Digital Point.
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