Continuing Google updates...

[rlrouse]

Another update seems to be in the works. PageRank and backlinks have updated on the -gv datacenter.

Check it out at www-gv.google.com.

If you want to see if your PR has updated, you'll need to add this line to your hosts file:

216.239.59.100 toolbarqueries.google.com

(I recommend backing up the hosts file before changing it since a corrupted hosts file will prevent your browser from surfing the web properly.)

The hosts file is located in this folder on Windows XP systems:

c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc

You'll need to uncheck the "read-only" attribute for the hosts file before you can add the line.

After you change the hosts file, close all open Internet Explorer windows, go back into IE, then view your pages to see the updated toolbar PageRank for that page (if applicable).

Be sure to remove the new line (or simply # it out) after you have finished checking out your PageRank. I prefer to leave it in mine and just # it out like this:

#216.239.59.100 toolbarqueries.google.com

That way to see the effects of the next update on my PR, all I have to do is remove the # and change the IP address to the updated datacenter.

Also be sure to re-enable the "read-only" attribute for the hosts file.

Here is a list of the Google datacenters and their IP addresses (although it probably isn't up to date):

www-ab.google.com. 60 IN A 216.239.51.100
www-cw.google.com. 60 IN A 216.239.57.100
www-dc.google.com. 60 IN A 216.239.39.100
www-ex.google.com. 60 IN A 216.239.33.100
www-fi.google.com. 41 IN A 216.239.41.100
www-gv.google.com. 60 IN A 216.239.59.100
www-in.google.com. 60 IN A 216.239.53.100
www-kr.google.com. 60 IN A 66.102.11.100
www-lm.google.com. 60 IN A 66.102.9.100
www-mc.google.com. 60 IN A 66.102.7.100
www-va.google.com. 60 IN A 216.239.37.100
www-zu.google.com. 60 IN A 216.239.55.100

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and your new ranking is a nice gift from Google instead of a lump of coal!

[ronniethedodger]

Dang RL...where in the heck did you come up with this. That is simply amazing !!!

I am going to have to give this a try myself.

Do you have the addresses that would correspond with WWW2 and WWW3 ????

[rlrouse]

Typing in www2.google.com or www3.google.com will actually point your browser to one of the other Google datacenters (and this changes quite often). They don't have static IP addresses of their own as far as I can tell.

[janeth]

I have not seen a change in mine yet.

But I have been watching since I saw your post.

[ronniethedodger]

I think we all need some kewl shades like RL's to watch with...what do you think? ;0)

[cbp]

Yes there have been some changes "perculating" in the last few days - it looks a bit more than the rolling/continuous updates we have seen lately but nothing like the Florida update - I see the word 'Ginger' has been attached to it -- will have to wait to see if the name sticks as I not sure that what we are seeing is big enough to call an "update".

CBP

[rlrouse]

...I not sure that what we are seeing is big enough to call an "update".

Yes, this seems to be more of a backlink / PR update than anything else. I haven't seen a lot of major changes in the SERPS yet.

[rlrouse]

I think we all need some kewl shades like RL's to watch with...

While I would love to be able to say that I have a pair of "cool shades", I can't. As usual, I first became aware of the update by reading someone else's post (in this case in another forum).

Some folks just seem to have a knack for spotting these changes early. I guess they monitor all the Google datacenters on a daily (or hourly?) basis.

[ronniethedodger]

...I not sure that what we are seeing is big enough to call an "update".

Yes, this seems to be more of a backlink / PR update than anything else. I haven't seen a lot of major changes in the SERPS yet.

That's interesting! Do you think that these two types of updates happen at different times then and are not done concurrently?

[rlrouse]

Lately, the start of a new update has been indicated by changes in the SERPS, with a backlink/PR update coming a few days later. But right now there seems to be little rhyme or reason to the overall update process.

The only thing the "new" Google seems to be consistent with is keeping webmasters off balance (not knowing what to expect next).