Ok, for you non techie’s out there reading this, you might not care about Page Ranking. To be honest with you I know about Page Ranking, but it really scrambles my brain if I think too much about it.
I read through this article about how David Austin theorizes the math behind how Google ranks pages. Page Ranking is the process where the Googlesortium computing infrastructure goes through the world wide web and figures out how important a particular web page is out of the twenty four billion or so web pages out there that Google indexes.
You say, who cares? Well, you should because when you Google a phrase there is a very smart, well thought out process in which those responses are brought back to you. Have you ever wondered how it is done. Well, if so, spend a few minutes to read through the article. If not, spend a few minutes anyway to get a better appreciation for how smart some people in this world really are.
I however, think there is flaw in the Page Ranking system. Take for instance Robert Scoble’s new web site. I use Robert a lot in examples like this because he is one of the biggest A-list bloggers out there and who knows, maybe I’ll get a link from him!
Anyway, his old blog, scoble.weblogs.com, still shows up number one on Google when you search for “Scoble”. Yet, he has been on his new blogging platform for well over a year. I know, I know, the old site in the scheme of the web is more significant from a purely numbers perspective. However, his new site should be the number returned result as it is his current site and from a person’s perspective more relevant than his older site.
Now for Robert, his newest site has moved up to number two on the results. But for D list bloggers like me, when I moved to a new URL my new blog has no ranking and therefore my old site shows up as number one when you search for “herschel horton.” My new site… well it doesn’t even show up on the Google results at all!
The solution: In general there isn’t a clear cut answer. But for bloggers who move their blog from one URL to another Google could transfer the page ranking to the new site like wireless phone companies move your phone number when you get a new provider. Google should be able to add this feature in their Webmaster Central site where they have established a process for bloggers/content owners to claim blogs/web sites. Google has to have a method for elevating specific web page rankings else their adsense program wouldn’t be so successful.
What do you think?
Until then, the only way my new blog will show up in the results page is for people to link to my new site. So, I am begging anyone who reads this to actually link to me and help me out?
Oh yea, if you care, there is a site that shows you a web page’s ranking. I don’t know how accurate the ranking is, but it surely is interesting. Here’s the link to that site.
The Burning Bush 