Widespread grey for Google PR

[Presentationrentals]

After seeing my site with a PR of 0 I frantically checked a few others and they are all 0 on my toolbar also.

Thinking I had a problem with my toolbar I went to one of the sites that you type in your URL and it tells you your PR with out you having the toolbar. It showed 0 for my site and even for www.yahoo.com

Can someone else please verify what I am seeing? Please check your site or any site you choose.

Thank you.

[Presentationrentals]

I have now checked PR at a second site that would not be dependent on my computer or my installed toolbar. Not only was my site still at a 0 PR but even www.google.com was at a zero PR.

Again, can someone else please check and see if they are seeing any PR for any site?

[Heat]

It's not ZERO, it's just a broken toolbar, I think. In a few hours we'll have an answer :)

[cbp]

There is a wdiespread greying of toolbar PR - DON'T PANIC

CBP

(PS - I have changed thread title to reflect this)

[cbp]

I just did a quick check of some other forums and some blogs --- funny how this possible technical glitch is being interpreted as the end of PR !!!

CBP

[frontman]

The sky is falling!!!!!

[wrmineo]

It'd be so easy to start the rumor that Bill and MSFT have infected or at least affected the Big G ... because we all know that if it's on the Net, it must be true! :)

Here's something to consider: This happened in April just prior to the last big public PR update. The odds-makers must be freaking with the possibility that their prediction of the next update would be latter part of July ...

Yes, the sky is falling, but maybe the roof will get raised in the process.

[cbp]

I missed it, but apparently eariler today Google had tech problems that prevented it from displaying cached pages --- its ok now,,, so a good guess would be they are up to something and PR has just been turned off as part of that something .... I just checked a couple of other forums and it funny how so many think its the end of PR (it may well be, but IMHO its just more likely to be a tech problem)

CBP

[eggypiece]

Ok...not only am I'm seeing grey bars all over the place (to include my site), but I checked
http://www.mcdar.net/q-check/datatool.asp
and found that some data centers are showing an increase in my back links...maybe this is all related?

[wrmineo]

Shame on me, but I'm going to add to the speculation, feel free to add it to the rumor mill and hysteria ... BUT

I did notice after doing some backwards thinking and research of my stats after reading and some other posts about gripes and concerns of Google updates, problems, etc. that I've been bombarded today with hits from LOTS of "other" Googles today, .com.ve, .com.pe and more that I'd not seen before.

I thinks Google getting its foothold in more markets and trying to get the jump on Y and MSN who are beginning to appear more competitive to the Big G maybe.

This would also explain my increase in traffic over the last 96 hours while others are griping about loss of traffic, because I'm getting hit with more foreign google image bots too as I'm speaking of FreshDames.com which is image heavy.

Just a thought, speculation and food for the spastics... :)

[wrmineo]

Last month, and I'm used to being wrong so take it at blonde value, Google had about 17 DCs they readily used and there appears to be double that now, again; maybe be the addition of more Googles in other countries, natural need for expansion of existing systems, etc.

Then again, who knows what the heck they're ever up to - and they'll never tell or admit either; it's good to be the king!

I too have seen some of the new IPs (new to my eyes and stats anyway) showing more link backs and all but two show the same number of pages cached for FreshDames

[jacobwissler]

I was in the process of having a stroke when I read this thread, now all is fine.

[DMC_34]

For a brief moment I was hoping Google was doing away with the Green bar. I guess silly me, why would they throw away their best overrated marketing gimmick.

[Gary Golden]

Pressed the wrong button, again maybe they did away with the Toolbar!

Everyone is Grey and has been Grey for a day!

Heck I am a poet and do not no it!

It is the day, raining out side.

Have a Great Memorial Day weekend everyone.

[frontman]

By why would it still not be back up and working? Yes on Friday the page cache was down..but now that is working....this may be a crazy question but does G have a blog or information page out there for public info? ....sorry..had to ask!

[cbp]

does G have a blog or information page out there for public info?

No. A few weeks back when google.com went down, they did put out a press release, but nothing so far this time.

I also notice the directory icon on the toolbar has stopped working.

CBP

[smartads]

In my latest article "Is Google having a tough time with their website limit?". I talked about how the Google cache can't keep up anymore...

I think we might just see a huge shift in the way we know Google. If the "PR" stays grey for a long time, many of the newbies that are trying to keep up with the Google PR might give up on the game. If this happens, we will be left with seo people who trully know how to promote a website without even thinking of the Google PR.

On the other hand. What if Google is fine tunning it's "mashed up PR system" in order to bring LIFE back into it and fix the bugs all of us have been talking about. Google might actually be listening to our cries and taking in our much needed recommendations.

If Google does this, they will have done their loyal fans a great service and might actually create a buzz so large that MSN & Yahoo won't know what hit them. Besides, the PR system is what keeps many newbies glarring at their website time and time again in order to POSSIBLY see a small shift in their rank.

But again, all speculation (crossing fingers).

This post from "wrmineo" might be the case:

"Here's something to consider: This happened in April just prior to the last big public PR update. The odds-makers must be freaking with the possibility that their prediction of the next update would be latter part of July ... "

You might be right!

I hope they raise the roof for sure.

[freehits]

First noticed this 2 days ago when the PR checking tools on all sites were returning errors.

[Heat]

Monday everything will be just fine :) Don't panic!

[wednesday]

Originally Posted by Heat

Monday everything will be just fine :) Don't panic!

I like it as it is now. ;)

[eggypiece]

Although I have a strong feeling that this is only a temporary glitch in the system...whatever happens, I will adapt.

However, I do admit that I enjoy having the green bar up there. It is not the heaviest factor in my reciprocal linking criteria--as I have linked in a few occasions to sites with PR0--but it does play a part in it.

Google has been good to me--an unexperienced webmaster. It has proven to me that if an individual creates a serious, content-rich site, they will be rewarded with great SERPs.

I understand that there will always be those who would prefer that Google disappear (along DMOZ or any other organizations they may not like) but I for one, strongly support the return of the green little bar ASAP!

[netsnets]

we all got a little nervous about this, but whatever happens the quality sites will adapt.. and the rest.. well..

[cspelts]

Originally Posted by netsnets

but whatever happens the quality sites will adapt.. and the rest.. well..

And the spammy sites will adapt as well! It's the nature of the web!

[megahertz28]

I guess I would be on the side of what ever happens, "happens" if I had not spent so much money & time on aspirations of selling PR links. I guess it's like all business, it doesn't matter how hard you work, what you know, it's who you knew to get the job, and what the ignorant boss thinks that really matters.
At any rate, I hope PR is gone for sure. They are real smart, surely they can cook up another concoction for people to concentrate on while they fix their lackluster, contigent upon our efforts, "free", service that controls lives.
I will admit, all my own doing. :(

[cbp]

PR will never be gone....its just we might not know what it is

All search engines use some form of link popularity as part of the ranking formula. PR is nothing more than google's trademarked name for it, that they choose to give us a representation of on the toolbar (which might be gone) and in the Directory (which is still there)

CBP

[prasadr]

Our Interior Design website had PR:5 and I was surprised to see it show PR:0 this morning. Then, thought of checking here, and was relieved. PR may not be the be-all and end-all of SEO, but it was good to see what Google thought about your site :) Thanks guys.

[GeorgeSmith1000]

If it turns out that Google has decided to stop publishing PR rankings, it might be useful to speculate on how others will react. Google obviously wants it’s search engine rankings to be “pure” and to make manipulation of those rankings as difficult as possible. Publishing PR has made it easier for some to develop ways to manipulate the rankings and not publishing PR would make that process harder and more time consuming.

However, Google, not being alone in the search world, has to watch it’s back. Yahoo and MSN use their own version of PR to influence their search rankings and it would probably not be to hard for them to publish those scores for each web site.

Would I switch my Google toolbar with PR for a Yahoo toolbar. Why? Would I switch my Google toolbar without PR for a Yahoo toolbar with a PR clone. In a heartbeat. And then I would probably use Yahoo search more often and click on their ads more often.

This thought cannot have escaped the very smart people at Google. Perhaps their patent application has something buried in it that would make it hard or impossible for any other search outfit to publish PR type scores.

In any event, if PR is gone (i.e. not published) it is a tool so useful to so many that it is almost inevitable that replacements will not be long in making their appearance.

[wrmineo]

There is a Google Blog but it covers "Googler insights into product and technology news and our culture." and has not posted message since 24-May.

Of course, I wouldn't expect that they'd readily announce, disclose or release information about any "downtime", updates, etc ... look at the buzz it's creating now ... and depending on the outcome, there'll be more to come for sure! Even though they're a multi-billion dollar company, why spend money on advertising, PR et al when we're doing it for them during a flux such as this?

Another thing to consider, is that Google recently re-released an updated version of their toolbar with a few more bells and whistles (spell check, autolink) and they simply may be synch'g their algo's and such.

Either way, I am sure they're most appreciative of all of us keeping their name, brand and toolbar at the tips of tongues. Press is press, good or bad, it's still image and brand saturation and they're not paying a dime for it. Good Show!!

Have a memorable Memorial Day!

[beanstalk]

Just go to the Google Directory if you're really curious about PageRank.

PR hasn't been taken off there.

Of course this only works if the site in question is listed in the directory (which was jsut updated last week so check again if you're listed in DMOZ but not the Google Directory.

[mlmleads]

Day of the grey out. I think some webmasters are not going to like what they see when we come back around. As I think Google just threw a wrench into the machine.

[paton]

More and more signs that we are in the end of the PR era. No one knows what will be now besides some engineers in the google labs.

[smartads]

Here's possibly a good sign that Google isn't finished with page rank....

They are still promoting Page Rank within their toolbar and you can still download the toolbar with page rank available!

http://www.google.com/support/toolba...=features.html

[incrediblehelp]

No bounce, no play...Mr. Grey.

[cbp]

If it turns out that Google has decided to stop publishing PR rankings

Where did you get that information from? I have not yet seen anything official from Google.

CBP

[MathsIsFun]

Check out google rankings ( http://www.googlerankings.com/index.php ), it seems to be broken also. Connected?

[markhallgate]

try www.digitalpoint.com they have a PR and backlink cheker and it is showing pr some of it has changed in the last 2 days so i am asuming that it is actually acurate, i do not know were they get their info from for results.

[dvduval]

I think they may be running a complete pagerank update. Remember, it takes many iterations to get true pagerank for all pages. I think in the past they just did incomplete calculations because of the immensity of the data set. I'm thinking they may have reached a point where they have enough hardware and processor power to recalculate the whole index.

[jestep]

While I do feel bad for anyone who makes their income from selling text links based on Page Rank, I personally hope to see public Page Rank gone for good.

It is obviously not the ultimate problem solver, but I do believe that ending public Page Rank will help to eliminate a lot of spam sites.

Page Rank is such an illusion that many people follow without thought. By eliminating public page rank, people will be less likely to link with sites that have no other purpose than to boost ranking with links. This in turn will help weed out many useless sites on the internet.

[eggypiece]

"Check out google rankings ( http://www.googlerankings.com/index.php ), it seems to be broken also. Connected?"

I tried it and it worked for my site.

[albertindian2001]

Friends,

The proble of google grey in toolbar or what ever is due to a program. i found that today. i am facing this problem from saturday morning when our site http://www.cyberastro.com was shown grey. I thought we are black listed. Then i gave http://www.google.com it also gave grey bar. today I tested the PR with another site which gave this strange error.

I hope there is some parser error. Just now i have contacted google with this error code.

SO NO PANIC. WE ARE NOT BLACK LISTED

Error code recieved :

Warning: file(http://www.google.com/search?client=...www.google.com): failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.0 403 Forbidden in /hsphere/local/home/waelm/money-making-webmasters.com/tools/SiteRankMonitor/SiteRankMonitor.php on line 93


I hope they will correct this soon.

Albert
incorporate : nevada corporation : BePenfriends- Only friendship : You need a prayer : Astrology is power

[albertindian2001]

Friends,

I belive there is some problem in the google pagerank server. It is not responding properly. The below is the message i recieved from a server when i am search PR for google itself. I found this problem on saturday(28) when i am seeing my client site http://www.cyberastro.com PR was greyed. I thought we are black listed and i found google.com also was having the same.

Then i used another site for searching PR it returned this error.

SO NO PANIC. THIS IS GOOGLE'S PROBLEM. NOT OURS.
WE ARE NOT BLACK LISTED



Warning: file(http://www.google.com/search?client=...s=Rank&q=info:): failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.0 403 Forbidden in /hsphere/local/home/waelm/money-making-webmasters.com/tools/SiteRankMonitor/SiteRankMonitor.php on line 93

I belive google corrects this soon

ALbert

incorporate : nevada corporation : BePenfriends- Only friendship : You need a prayer

[brian.mark]

I see PR for many pages again. Anyone else seeing this?

Brian.

[cspelts]

Originally Posted by brian.mark

I see PR for many pages again. Anyone else seeing this?

Not here - I'm in California.

[prasadr]

Originally Posted by brian.mark

I see PR for many pages again. Anyone else seeing this?

Brian.

Nothing yet in this part of the world (Bangalore, India). Google's own sites don't show anything either.

[jawn_tech]

Don't forget everyone that Monday is a holiday in the US, (Google's HQ), which is Memorial Day.

So whatever the case may be, there's a good chance techies at Google could be gathered around a barbeque pit with their families, like this techie will be, instead of working on PR.

But in the meantime, my best advice to anyone is keep working on your sites, keep promoting it as you have, and pretend what is showing on the PR toolbar means nothing (lol..in other words, go about business as usual).

:)

[jawn_tech]

Originally Posted by brian.mark

I see PR for many pages again. Anyone else seeing this?

Brian.

Not yet here...pennsylvania...

[albertindian2001]

PR is not yet shown

[ozchris]

I only just noticed all this - I couldn't get online for a day and a half, and had to resort to reading downloaded ebooks to get my fix.

PR is still not available in OZ.

I was considering buying seoelite - a tool for finding highly ranked sites to exchange links with. It obviously depends on PR being available - it would really stuff things up if it went away. I was trying to find the PR of their example, diet-i.com, to see how good they were.

And I had just been approached by textlinkbrokers for the first time to see if I would sell links.....

Will it all fall down like a pack of cards?

[marcel]

Originally Posted by jawn_tech

Don't forget everyone that Monday is a holiday in the US, (Google's HQ), which is Memorial Day.

So whatever the case may be, there's a good chance techies at Google could be gathered around a barbeque pit with their families, like this techie will be, instead of working on PR.

But in the meantime, my best advice to anyone is keep working on your sites, keep promoting it as you have, and pretend what is showing on the PR toolbar means nothing (lol..in other words, go about business as usual).

:)

That's why my traffic is down. thank !

[danno]

A junior technician at Google asked one
of the senior techs how to get rid of the
"Page Cannot Be Displayed" message in his
browser.

The senior tech replied "Just clear the cache."

Danno