Jentrepreneur

If you’re considering buying a domain name, or buying links, you may use a fake Page Rank detection tool to determine if a domain’s PR value is legitimate or if it has fake PR. On the surface they sound like a good idea, right? But fake Page Rank detection tools can get you into some hot water if you’re not careful in how you use them or the information obtained from them. Here’s why:

Fake PR can be achieved by redirecting a domain to a highly ranked domain. However, 301 redirects also have very legitimate uses (such as when you change the domain name of the site and need to redirect the old site to the new one, or when you change your URL structure for some reason and need to direct old URLs to new ones). While some fake Page Rank detection tools seem to be able to tell the difference, others don’t even make an attempt.

After being referred to a fake Page Rank detection tool at ExpiredDomainUp.com, I checked several of my own sites (which all have valid PR… I don’t use any kind of “tricks” to raise my Page Rank; however a few of my sites have recently been moved or been changed on the backend, using 301 redirects to notify visitors and search engines of the changes).

Each site that used a 301 redirect in any way (being redirected elsewhere, or having something redirected to it), when checked on this site, returned as a fake Page Rank (they return as valid on most other tools I’ve checked).

So how can inaccurate results get you into trouble? Simple:

If you’re participating in business publicly (such as a domain sale, link auction, etc.), you may come across an inaccurate fake Page Rank result on a tool like the one mentioned above, and decide to publicly announce that, thinking you’re doing right by other people who might get involved.

Instead, if your unsubstantiated accusations end up discrediting the seller, causing them potentially long-term harm to their reputation or lost sales, you may just find yourself on the receiving end of a libel lawsuit. Is it really worth it? You’d be hard-pressed to make a case that you had a legitimate reason to believe these tools are completely accurate (because if you know enough about Page Rank to be making it a basis for a business decision, you also know that these tools don’t know exactly how Page Rank is calculated, and therefore can’t be completely accurate in their determination on someone’s honesty or lack thereof in manipulating a fake Page Rank).

Instead, be smart. Don’t neglect to fully check out a situation, and if you’re concerned, simply pull out instead of making accusations based on tools that can’t be 100% accurate. At the very least, check information across several competing tools, or you may end up missing out on an otherwise lucrative business opportunity. And remember… don’t ever take a webmaster tool as the gospel truth.

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