It’s official.

In the most recent update of Google’s PageRank service, theNetFool.com was awarded one of the higher distinctions possible with a PageRank 4 rating. The jump from a PR 0 to a PR 4 is one of the bigger steps ever recorded on the internet, and is certainly something worth bragging about.

What the heck is Google Pagerank!?
This post was originally going to be intended to explain the pageranking service, but I feel that the details will bog down this post so I am going to make an entire post dedicated to the explanation sometime later this week. In a nutshell, Google Pagerank is a complex algorithm that literally “ranks” websites on a scale of 1-10 based on traffic, content and current standing (number of links, etc.). This service is updated at random intervals, usually somewhere from 3-5 times each year, so it causes a real commotion when webmasters begin to see things changing.

Why is Pagerank important?
People will tell you that PageRank is useless, but anyone that tells you that is either depressed they do not have a good ranking, or simply off their rocker. Truth be told, there are MUCH better services to rank the strength of a website than Pagerank. I side with those that say hey, PageRank shouldn’t be important… because typically it is not the best measure of traffic, readers, etc. However, it is also a fact that most people care about what Google PR website’s have when they compile “top website” rankings, and more importantly, advertise.

Advertising is probably the single most important function of Google’s PageRank. Advertisers look at a website with a high PR and justify buying sponsored reviews, text links and banner ads based on this. Higher ranking, more money. So basically, if you have a high PR for your blog/site, you are going to be seen as a superior website whether this is actually true or not. :razz:

How does The Net Fool stack up to the competition?
With a current PageRank of 4, the Net Fool is now in the top tier of bloggers. I know that saying 4/10 sounds like you have nothing, but it is actually one of the higher rankings available… as you will soon see. Basically, most blogs are lucky to get a 3 after much work… the jump from 3 to 4 is a massive milestone, and it is tough to even get a 1 (default is 0). But don’t take my word from it… let’s glance at my competitors to see how they stack up.

Most notably, we have the same rank as JohnChow.com, arguably the most popular money blog on the internet with over 25,000 RSS subscribers and over 200,000 unique visitors every money. We are also tied with Winning The Web (almost 900 subscribers). Websites that The Net Fool is currently beating include most of my direct competitors. John Cow, Tyler Cruz and Blog Trepreneur all have a PR 3 with about 1,500 subscribers a piece, and smaller scale blogs like Blog About Your Blog, Jonathan Volk, The University Kid, and Sly Visions have PR 3 rankings with RSS subscribers ranging from 250-1000 subscribers each.

Am I saying that The Net Fool dot com is better than these blogs now? Absolutely. Not necessarily. But a higher PageRank certainly reflects well on my content. I have asked around and it seems that well-written content has a huge factor now in rankings, so having quality information has definitely supported my growth (as it should). ;)

I was a bit sheepish in writing this post, since I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw my blog has been awarded a powerful 4 rankings. Honestly, I expected a 2 (if anything), so I was absolutely floored when I saw the news. At this point, it seems locked in now that it is one week after the update, so I am pleased to announce this dramatic improvement. Even the little guy can accomplish great things by writing quality content, networking with other bloggers and staying bullish on the net!

-The Net Fool

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