How many of you are worried about what the latest (Page Rank) PR Update has done to your site? Especially if your site is a web directory? For my directories, both have dropped 1 notch to PR 3 from PR 4, which I think is a pretty small drop cosidering what others have faced. And for me, the traffic has not dropped much at all even for my general directory. In fact, for my business directory, the traffic has slightly increased. This is mainly due to the year end traffic increase. But comes the holiday season, I will definitely see a big drop in traffic. I guess this is only natural.

For commercial directories which are very dependent on how high their PR is, I guess this update will effect them more. Paid directories (unlike free directories) attract listings because their customers would like a PR boost for their site. So if a paid directory has a lower PR, then it won’t be as attractive as before. I wonder how these directories are handling it? Do they plan to change marketing strategy and switch focus away from PR to something else? I believe that web directories in a sense cannot change much. Basically, it’s a site with links to other sites which are categorized for easy reference and access. So, how are these paid directories planning to weather the storm?

For me, I still think that a niche directory is the best. General directories are too wide and without the focus on a certain subject to topic, will not be able to attract the correct crowd. And now, without the appeal of PR, it will get worse with time. One good example is my business directory, if we take away the seasonal factors, it has weathered everything Google or other Search Engines has thrown at it and still come out virtually unscathed. Traffic remains constantly increasing.