4 replies to this topic

[ScottSalwolke]

I'm working with a client that I'm also providing a new website for. They have a PageRank of 3 for their home pages and had a PR of 2 for some of their internal pages. The internal pages, however, had strange url names, such as 1id3. I put new pages on such as aboutus and services. Now I'm wondering if I made a mistake renaming the pages as these pages now have no PageRank. I realize PageRank is only a snapshot of Google's estimation of a pages worth at a certain time. But would it be better to go back to the page names that have an existing PageRank or will this value soon transfer to the new page names.

[Randy]

Did you set up 301 redirects from the old page names to the new ones?

If you have or do the PageRank will catch up eventually.

[ScottSalwolke]

I had. By eventually catch up, how long do you think this takes? Which is better switching back to the old names or a redirect.

[Randy]

If you had a good (non SEO) reason for changing the file names, and it sounds like you did, I'd leave it.

For the timing of the transfer, I typically see it take 4-6 weeks for the full effect to be felt. Note this is for Real PR transfer. Toolbar PR is wonky, so may reflect the transfer sooner or later, depending upon when a Toolbar PR update takes place in relation to when the 301's were put into place.

[Jill]

They won't show toolbar PR, but don't worry about it. It's only updated about 2 times a year.