Well, the huge decision to be made by Wikipedia whether or not they would re-introduce the rel=”nofollow” attribute to external links has been made: sure enough, “nofollow” is back!

What this means is that in terms of most of the leading search engines (Google and MSN mainly) no longer give weight to the external links on any of the Wikipedia site in terms of ranking. (It has been pointed out to me by Andy Beard that Yahoo does in fact use ‘nofollow’ tags - thanks Andy!)

In my opinion, this is good news, as it will quickly stop black-hat SEO players from abusing the wiki in order to gain a higher rank in Google or PageRank. On the other hand, it seems a shame that deserving sites are not gaining some of the status they arguably deserve.

What is the overall opinion? Good Wikipedia, or bad Wikipedia?

Well, there’s been a recent PageRank update (which may still be taking place). The strange thing about this update, though, is that several pretty large websites (for example, AOL.com, Digg.com, 9rules.com, and unlimitedgamer.net), have lost all their PageRank for no apparent reason. I noticed that some of these sites were advertising Text-Link-Ads.com, but I have seen other now PR0 websites and weblogs which have nothing to do with T-L-A.com.

Why might the PR have dropped?

It seems strange that such bigs sites have lost their entire PR for no reason. Another thing is that the ranking and indexing of these sites seems to have remained relatively similar to prior to the update. It could be that these sites are linking out to bad neighbourhoods, but that doesn’t really weigh up if you look at what they are linking to.

Is PR now defunct? At least partially? Perhaps. Comments would be helpful!

As Wikipedia have rightfully deleted the article on high PageRank websites, I thought I’d maintain the list here for people who are interested to see. Thanks to those who provided links.

List of high PageRank sites

PageRank 10

- Adobe.com - Adobe Systems, software company
- Apple.com - Apple Computer, also houses the iTunes Music Store
- Blogger.com - Blogger, a weblog publishing tool run by Google
- CSAIL - MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (*)
- Energy.gov - United States Department of Energy
- ERCIM.org - European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (*)
- FirstGov.gov - U.S. government portal
- Google.com - Google, search engine that assigns PageRank
- Keio.ac.jp - Keio University, Tokyo, Japan (*)
- NASA.gov - NASA, U.S. government agency for the space program and aerospace research
- NSF.gov - National Science Foundation, U.S. government agency for scientific research
- NYTimes.com New York Times, news site
- Real.com - RealPlayer, music, video, games
- StatCounter.com - tracking service
- W3.org - World Wide Web Consortium
- Whitehouse.gov - The White House

(*): Those websites are linked from W3.org, which may (or may not) account for their PageRank of 10, even if they haven’t so much traffic or incoming links.

PageRank 9

- A9.com - A9.com, search engine
- AAAS.org - American Association for the Advancement of Science
- About.com - About.com, portal
- ACM.org - Association for Computing Machinery
- AlltheWeb.com - AlltheWeb, search engine
- AltaVista.com - AltaVista, search engine
- AMS.org - American Mathematical Society
- Amazon.com (redirect) - Amazon.com, shopping site
- AOL.com - America Online, portal
- Apache.org - Apache Software Foundation, open-source software
- APS.org - American Physical Society
- Archive.org - Internet Archive
- Arizona.edu - University of Arizona
- ArXiv.org - ArXiv.org e-print archive
- ASU.edu - Arizona State University
- BarnesAndNoble.com - Barnes & Noble, bookseller
- BBC.co.uk - British Broadcasting Corporation
- Berkeley.edu - University of California, Berkeley
- BlackwellPublishing.com - publisher
- Bloglines.com - Bloglines, web-based news aggregator
- BoingBoing.net - Boing Boing
- Borders.com - Borders Group, bookseller
- Boston.com - The Boston Globe, news site
- Britannica.com - Encyclopædia Britannica
- Brown.edu - Brown University
- BU.edu - Boston University
- BusinessWire.com - Business Wire, news distribution service
- CareerBuilder.com (redirect)
- Cam.ac.uk - Cambridge University
- CBC.ca - Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
- CDC.gov - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Cell.com - articles on biology, biochemistry, cancer research
- CERN.ch - CERN
- CIES.org - Council for International Exchange of Scholars
- Cisco.com - Cisco Systems
- CMU.edu - Carnegie Mellon University
- CNET.com - Cnet, technology portal
- CNRS.fr - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
- Colorado.edu - University of Colorado at Boulder
- Columbia.edu - Columbia University
- Commerce.gov - Department of Commerce
- Computer.org - IEEE Computer Society
- Copyright.gov - U.S. Copyright Office
- Cornell.edu - Cornell University
- CPAN.org - Comprehensive Perl Archive Network
- CreativeCommons.org - Creative Commons
- C-SPAN.org - C-SPAN, Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network
- CVSHome.org (https) - Concurrent Versions System
- Debian.org - Debian, open-source operating system
- Disney.com
- DHHS.gov - Department of Health and Human Services
- DHS.gov/dhspublic/ - Department of Homeland Security
- Dmoz.org - Open Directory Project
- DOC.gov - Department of Commerce
- DOI.gov - U.S. Department of the Interior
- DOL.gov - U.S. Department of Labor
- Duke.edu - Duke University
- EB.com - Encyclopædia Britannica online
- eBay.com - EBay, auction site
- Economist.com - news site
- Ed.gov - U.S. Department of Education
- Elsevier.com - Elsevier, publisher of scientific and medical literature
- EnergyStar.gov - Energy Star
- EPA.gov - Environmental Protection Agency
- ETHZ.ch - ETH Zurich, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
- EurekAlert.org - science news site
- EV Group - language site
- Excite.com - Excite, portal
- Expedia.com - Expedia, online travel agency
- FDA.gov - Food and Drug Administration
- Freshmeat.net - Freshmeat, cross-platform software directory
- FSU.edu - Florida State University
- FT.com - Financial Times
- FTC.gov - Federal Trade Commission
- FWS.gov - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- GAO.gov - Government Accountability Office
- GetNetWise.org - Information for dealing with common internet problems
- Gnome.org - GNOME, desktop for Unix operating systems
- GNU.org - GNU Project
- Grants.gov - unified site for interaction between grant applicants and the U.S. federal agencies that manage grant funds
- Guardian.co.uk - Guardian, British news site
- Harvard.edu - Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA
- HUJI.ac.il - Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
- HHMI.org - Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- HON.ch - Health On the Net Foundation
- House.gov - U.S. House of Representatives
- HP.com - Hewlett-Packard
- IBM.com - International Business Machines
- IEEE.org - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
- IETF.org - Internet Engineering Task Force
- IIE.org - Institute of International Education
- IMDb.com - Internet Movie Database
- Indiana.edu - Indiana University system
- Inria.fr - INRIA, French national research institution
- Intel.com - Intel Corporation
- Internet.com - Internet and IT news site, owned by Jupitermedia Corporation
- internet2.edu - Internet2
- ITManagersJournal.com - IT
- IOM.edu - Institute of Medicine
- Java.com - Java programming language
- JHU.edu - Johns Hopkins University
- KDE.org - K Desktop Environment
- Linux.com - Linux Operating System
- LiveJournal.com - LiveJournal
- LOC.gov - Library of Congress
- Lycos.com - Lycos.com, portal
- MamboServer - Mambo, open-source PHP content management system
- MapQuest.com - MapQuest
- Microsoft.com - Microsoft Corporation, computer software company
- MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- MovableType.org - Movable Type, commercial Perl weblog
- Mozilla.org - Mozilla, open-source internet tools
- MozillaZine.org - MozillaZine
- MSN.com - MSN.com, portal
- MSNBC.com - MSNBC.com, portal
- MSU.edu - Michigan State University
- MySQL.com - MySQL, open-source database engine
- NAP.edu - National Academies Press
- NAS.edu - National Academy of Sciences
- NationalAcademies.org
- NationalGeographic.com - National Geographic
- Nature.com - Nature Publishing Group
- NCAA.org - National Collegiate Athletic Association
- Nedstatbasic.com - tracking service
- Netscape.com - Netscape, portal
- NewScientist - New Scientist, science magazine
- NewsForge.com - NewsForge
- NIH.gov - National Institutes of Health
- NIST.gov - National Institute of Standards and Technology
- NOAA.gov - National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
- NobelPrize.org - Nobel Prize
- NPR.org - National Public Radio
- NPS.gov - National Park Service
- NREL.gov - National Renewable Energy Laboratory
- Oanda.com - Currency conversion site
- OpenSource.org - open source
- Opera.com - Opera (web browser), proprietary web browser
- Oracle.com - Oracle Corporation, software company
- Oreilly.com - O’reilly, computer bookseller
- ORNL.gov - Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- OSTG.com - Open Source Technology Group
- OUP.co.uk - Oxford University Press
- Ox.ac.uk - University of Oxford
- PayPal.com - PayPal
- PBS.org - Public Broadcasting Station
- PHP.net - PHP, web scripting language
- phpBB.com - phpBB, open-source PHP bulletin board system
- Pitt.edu - University of Pittsburgh
- Plone.org - Plone, open source content management system
- Princeton.edu - Princeton University
- PSU.edu - Pennsylvania State University
- Python.org - Python Programming Language
- Ranchero.com/netnewswire/
- RealNetworks.com - RealNetworks
- Realplayer.com
- RedHat.com - Red Hat
- Regulations.gov - portal for federal rulemaking
- Reuters.com (redirect) - Reuters
- Rutgers.edu - Rutgers University
- Sandia.gov - Sandia National Laboratories
- ScienceDirect.com - ScienceDirect
- ScienceMag.com - Science Magazine
- Section508.gov - Section 508 Amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
- Senate.gov - U.S. Senate
- SI.edu - Smithsonian Institution
- Slashdot.org - Slashdot, technology news site
- SourceForge.Net - Sourceforge, a directory of open-source development projects
- Stanford.edu - Stanford University, California, USA
- State.gov - U.S. Department of State
- State.tx.gov - Texas portal
- Sun.com - Sun Microsystems
- Information Management - Sybase
- ThinkGeek.com - ThinkGeek
- Topica.com
- TripAdvisor.com - TripAdvisor
- Truste.org
- Time and Date: The World Clock - Timeanddate.com
- UC.cl - Universidad Catolica de Chile
- UCDavis.edu - University of California, Davis
- UCI.edu - University of California, Irvine
- UCL.ac.uk - University College London
- UCSB.edu - University of California, Santa Barbara
- UIUC.edu - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- UMD.edu - University of Maryland, College Park
- UMich.edu - University of Michigan
- UMN.edu - University of Minnesota
- UN.org - United Nations
- Unesco.org - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
- Unicode.org - Unicode
- UPenn.edu - University of Pennsylvania
- USAJobs.opm.gov - federal government’s official jobs site
- USAToday.com - USAToday, news site
- USC.edu - University of Southern California
- USDA.gov - U.S. Department of Agriculture
- URGS.gov - U.S. Geological Survey
- USPTO.org - U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
- UTexas.edu - University of Texas at Austin
- UToronto.ca - University of Toronto
- VeriSign.com - VeriSign
- Virginia.edu - University of Virginia
- Vlib.org - World Wide Web Virtual Library
- Washington.edu - University of Washington
- WashingtonPost.com - The Washington Post, news site
- Watchfire.com
- Weather.com - The Weather Channel
- WHO.int - World Health Organization
- Wikipedia.org - Wikipedia
- Windowsmediaplayer.com
- WinZip.com - WinZip, commercial archive utility
- Wired.com - Wired.com, news site
- Wisc.edu - University of Wisconsin
- Wolfram.com - Mathematica, MathWorld, ScienceWorld
- WordPress.org - WordPress, open-source PHP blog script
- WUSTL.edu - Washington University in St. Louis
- Yahoo.com - Yahoo!, portal
- Yale.edu - Yale University

I have noticed that over these past few days, the Google dance has been in full swing. There have been notable changes to both the Google Directory and backlinks have been updated.

I was very pleased as the ffnet.org backlinks went from 245 to 817, which I believe to be very good indeed, considering my sites youth.

However, the main subject of this post is about the bizarre Google directory update that has (is?) taken (taking?) place. I went on the Google directory yesterday to see if it had been updated, having read from someone one SEOChat that it had. I immediately noticed that the PageRank detail offered on the Google Directory was indeed changed. I also noticed, however, that my site (which was included in DMOZ) was not in the revised Directory.

This troubled me somewhat, but I also noticed other recently accepted ODP sites were not included. I thought very little more of it, putting it down to some kind of roll-back. Today, though, I looked at my SERPs and discovered that my sites description was that given by DMOZ. My site also shows up in a search for the domain name on Google Directory. Entirely bizarre!

Anyone have any thoughts / theories?