For some of our web site clients (Washington Express and GigaBiter, for example), we have been following the dust-up over Google’s alleged change to PageRank. PageRank is the mathematical algorithm that ranks web sites in the almighty Google search engine. According to some informed speculation, Google is fighting back against people trying to game its system for higher search engine rankings, dinging the rankings of some popular sites like the Washingtonpost.com in the process. No matter what the actual cause, this is a never-ending war raging between Google and those seeking every advantage when their companies live or die by their Google ranking.

What has been our advice? Don’t get caught up in the arms race--it can only hurt you. You can’t win. Only Google knows how PageRank works and can change it at their whim. Everyone else is guessing, often badly. Trying to game the system will only lead you to do bad things, like “link farms” and writing geared for Google’s search bots rather than real human beings. The first can get you blacklisted from Google, the second from your potential customers.

What can you do? PageRank is still about links coming to your site, and the sites that link to yours. Maximize links to your sites, especially from large directories and media outlets that have a ton of incoming links to them, too. Blog. Ask your customers and partners to link to you. Work the public relations and get stories about your firm and people in trade rags, web sites, and the local/regional media. Write a case study for your customer that links to your site. Also, find a respected SEO (Search Engine Optimization) adviser, one that makes sure the basics are covered, doesn’t offer frivolous services, and offers prudent measures that don’t overstep the line. Lastly, don’t believe that the SEO firm can deliver you to the top of the charts with some cold cash but no hard work.