MOZRANK? WEBSITE GRADER? The New Alternative to Google PageRank?

What’s a PR person to do?

Public Relations (PR)  personnel have long relied on Google PageRank to decide which blogs to choose for featuring their products, selecting brand ambassadors, placing ads, etc.  Now (as of this writing), Google Page Rank has not been updated since April 2010.  (Sure as I write this article, they will update tomorrow).  It’s really unfortunate for people like me and Simply Stacie.  Both of us switched to WordPress in May (after the Google blogger fiasco in late Spring where a bunch of blogs just disappeared for no apparent reason), shortly after doing so, our page rank dropped or went to “Unrated” which is worse than zero!  (mine from Pagerank 2 to Pagerank 1  and Simply Stacie’s went from 3 to Unrated!)  The really sad thing is that Simply Stacie is a HUGE megablogger with a monster following on Facebook, twitter, and GFC.  She is super professional and certainly deserves her status (and a great Pagerank).  This blog, Still Blonde after all these YEARS,  has grown significantly during this time as well, multiplying our Google Friend connect by 5, Facebook by 4, twitter is up to 550, and our page visits and visitors has escalated markedly as well.

So What?

So What?  Well for Simply Stacie and myself and others like us, the lack of Google Pagerank update has  hugely impacted our ability to generate income from our blogs as Public Relations firms are sadly uneducated in measurement numbers.  Most of them only know Google PageRank…that’s it.  Google has not commented nor done anything since April 2010 on this metric.  With this lack of updating, we are being crushed.  Our only alternative, is to educate on the current relevant measures.  Three very relevant measures I have found are mozRank, Website Grader, and Alexa.  As noted by Simply Stacie in her recent article, Bye Bye Google Page Rank, Hello mozRank :

Page Rank and mozRank are similar in that they both measure a websites popularity and authority online. mozRank is run by SEOMoz and measures sites on a scale of 1 to 10 (just like Google PR does).

Website Grader is actually an overall grade with commentary about what you can do to improve your site.  It will also do a mega-indepth analysis at at cost (approx. $150).  I have found the free recommendations to be extremely helpful.  I display my Website Grader badge on my blog at all times  (Why wouldn’t I?  My grade currently stands at 98!)  Website grader will tell you your mozRank as well when it takes a look at your overall site.  So it’s like a two-fer!  You can find out your mozRank on other sites as well such as Open Site Explorer and Website Analyzer.
You will find that your mozRank can slightly vary among these sites.

Alexa is another site I use to compare my blog with others (I find Compete to be very unreliable).  Alexa ranks your blog among the top websites in the world and US.  Supposedly, if you can break 500,000 in the world, Public Relation firms will start to take notice (the lower your number the better).  If you put the Alexa code into your blog and claim your blogsite, it supposedly helps out your score (I have yet to figure this one out…).

So get these numbers out there.  Post mozRank, Website Grader,  and Alexa on your blog, take every opportunity to explain to Public Relations people about the “current” irrelevance of Google Page Rank (now if Google updates–that changes the whole ballgame, doesn’t it?)  Here is how I post mine on my Contact Us/PR/Ads Page:

Our Current Stats (December, 2010):

Website is 14 months old

Page visits–15,000/month and growing

Website grader–98/100

MOZ Rating–4

Entries per giveaway — Small giveaways  (400-700),   Large giveaways (800-2000).  That’s a huge quantity  of visits to your website because all of our giveaways are interactive with your website. 0ur entry process requires viewers to visit your website, friend you on Facebook Etc.  Here’s an example giveaway from Lifetime Brands https://stillblondeafteralltheseyears.com/2010/10/140-kitchenaid-lifetime-brands-giveaway-cook-for-the-cure-kitchen-tools/

Facebook fans:  845

Feedburner/Rss:870

Twitter: 590

Google Friends Connect: 1180

Email newsletter (for giveaways only):1100+

Alexa Rank: 76,000 (US)  340,000 (World) (a lower number is better, we are in the top 1.07% of all websites worldwide)
Google Page Rank:  Please note Google has not updated their Page Rank since April.  Page Rank is NOT a relevant measure for a blog unless Google updates on a regular basis!

Please be advised:  We are a super fast growing blog.

Tell me how you are addressing this problem if you are a blogger?

UPDATE:  GOOGLE DID UPDATE MY PAGERANK ON Jan. 20, 2011 from a 2 to a 3!  See article here for more on that:

Google PageRank has Updated (for Some) January 20, 2011! First Google PageRank Update for 2011