Pagerank updates and expectations

[SCyardman]

My site (http://www.bluedotlandscaping.com) has recently been redone.  Although I have been online for about 9 years, we have never before done SEO.  My Google PR is 0.  With a lot of work the last 3-5 months we have gotten a MozRank of 3.55.  (DA 26 and MozTrust 4.36)

What do you think are reasonable expectations?

Does Google update often?

Is a jump from a PR of 0 to 3 reasonable?

If my site does go to a PR of 3, will I see a noticeable change in my keyword rankings?

Thanks for your help.

Rich

[TheEspresseo]

"Does Google update often?"

Google unrolls minor algo updates roughly every two weeks.

"Is a jump from a PR of 0 to 3 reasonable?"

Maybe this will help you conceptualize what PageRank is and how it behaves: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/pagerank-sculpting/

"If my site does go to a PR of 3, will I see a noticeable change in my keyword rankings?"

Since PR is only one value in the overall ranking algo, the answer to this question depends on how strong your other signals of authority and relevance are in comparison to those competing for the same keywords.

[jsturgeon]

Hi Rich,

PR is frustrating, isn't it? It looked like Google gave us a definitive, all-in-one metric to determine the value of our pages--but it just doesn't cut it.

Honestly, I just use PR and Mozrank (which is much better) for competitive analysis. Focus on the following instead:

1. Tracking your ranking for desired keywords
2. How much traffic your site receives as a result of #1
3. How well does the traffic convert (i.e. are you getting customers from the traffic?)

These are the metrics you want to care about over the long haul. Who cares if you have a PR of 0. If you are getting 300% more paying customers this year, that's what counts!