PR4 blog but no data in OSE?

[SamCUK]

I've recently been asked to guest post on a site that appears to be PR4 but when checking the sites authority on OSE no data shows up. The site is http://www.osozo.com. I'm looking for opinions really, first of all on how it can be PR4 but OSE has no data on it and secondly whether it's a good site for me to post on?

Any help much appreciated!

[lbi-tr]

Hey Samuel,

Hope you are doing well. I have made a video response to you question. Hope it is what you are looking for.

Summary

1.Check the Majestic SEO historic index

2: check the site on Google with site: command

3. Use the way back machine to see if there is a cache of the site.

Findings

Site is not indexed in Google so the fact it has a PR 4 is worrying. It may be because the domain is almost 7 years old. It may be because of other things like the site has some other sites 301 redirected into it. It might be because the page rank hasn't been updated in months.

Actions

The site looks like a guest posting version of an article syndication site. I would stay away from this site and go to blogger link up or my blog guest for better sources.

Hope this helps.

S2oMPgz8o6I

[SamCUK]

Thanks for your reply. Love the video response! Something didn't feel quite right about the site which is why I was seeking opinions. The guest post request did however come through MyBlogGuest but luckily I check the authority as a matter of course. So far I've had good success with it though. Onwards and upwards!

[Brian-H]

PR can be faked in many ways with redirects and pulling paid for links right after a PR update etc so use all the tools available not just OSE to get a holistic view of the sites current links and why it might have any PR that it says it does.

[Cyrus-Shepard]

Hi Samuel,

Interesting question. Let me add a little bit to lbi-tr's answer.

A lot of times folks will buy old expired domains with high PageRank and try to use them for something else. If the links to these domains are on a part of the Internet that aren't very active, or hidden under layers of navigation, it's not uncommon to find little link data for them in Open Site Explorer.

In this case here's what we can find out (sorry if this repeats anything)

1. The site was for sale in 2011, based on a capture from the Wayback machine: http://web.archive.org/web/20110202101214/http://osozo.com/

2. Although OSE doesn't have any link data, Ahrefs shows some incoming domains, Most importantly is directory.supremohosting.com/, which 301 redirects to the site in question. This is likely where the PR 4 is coming from, and there is link data for this domain in OSE: http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/links?site=http%3A%2F%2Fdirectory.supremohosting.com%2F

Unfortunately, the PR4 means almost nothing in this case. It's doubtful that the incoming link juice will help this site rank for anything at all. When a site changes hands and goes through major changes in content, search engines usually make the site "re-earn" it's rankings, despite what the toolbar PR says.

In general when you guest post, you want to ask:

• Is it relevant to your audience?
• Can you envision these articles in a newspaper or magazine?
• Would you trust this site with your credit card?

Check out this post, paying close attention to "Things to avoid" http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-advanced-guest-blogging

And Apply the Golden Rule to Guest Posting