One way to check to see if Google PageRanks are being updated is to check the PR of your site across the various Google datacenters. This is possible because the datacenters are out-of-sync with one another, and during an update, they may not show the same value.

Finally, Google appears to be updating its toolbar pageranks. If you go to the following tool and check any domain name with a PR of greater than 0, you’ll find that some datacenters report a PR 0 for that site.

http://livepr.raketforskning.com/

In the past the updating datacenters give you a glimpse of your future PR, but this time they show PR 0 for any domain you enter. So, there is no need to panic.

You’ve probably used Alexa, but have you tried Quantcast? Like Alexa, Quantcast provides traffic rankings for millions of websites. But unlike Alexa, Quantcast does not rely on toolbar usage for data collection. Instead, Quantcast’s ratings are based on the analysis of usage data collected through “affiliations with partners, who include advertisers, publishers, ISPs and advertising networks”.

Comparing Alexa and Quantcast results for some of my sites, I’ve found Quantcast to be light years ahead of Alexa in terms of accuracy and usefulness. Quantcast not only ranks your site, but tells you how many unique visitors your site gets every month as well as where they come from, their gender, ethnicity, age group, income and other demographic information.

You can use the impressively detailed demographic information provided by Quantcast to identify who your visitors are and cater your site content to their needs. Alternatively, if you find that your site is not reaching the right audience, e.g. your gardening site is being visited mostly by teenagers, you can use the data to modify your marketing strategies so that it reaches those who are more likely to buy your products and services.

Below is a sample Quantcast output.

Quantcast will attempt to provide information on any site you query– the more established the site, the more information it will be able to provide. But to get the most accurate and detailed information on your site, you need to sign up to become a Quantcast publisher (for free). You will get a short, invisible Javascript code to insert into your webpage. No button or logo is displayed, unless you want to display your Quantcast ranking on your site.

Visit Quantcast.