Starz Ceilings on DIY SOS

I was reviewing a site that went live a few weeks before the last Page Rank update - Starz Ceilings. He's already 'Starred' on these pages (sorry – couldn't resist!).

The guy's products are about to be featured on the TV this weekend – something like Starz Ceilings on DIY SOS. So we're just giving the site a once over. I noticed that the home page had gone in at Page Rank 1, not bad given the site was only 4 weeks old at the time of the latest Page Rank export. What was interesting to note was that the rest of the site was also Page Rank 1. Usually for a new site I expect the internal pages to be 1 ranking lower than the home page, increasing only as the home page rank increases.

If that was not puzzling enough, then the fact that every link uses graphics makes it even more puzzling. Traditional theorists have always said that links using images don't allow search engines to spider the site. The theory is that search engines derive no information about the pages through the link and don't follow them.

But if these pages are all cached and all equal page ranked, then Google is visiting the pages and liking the links. The fact that Google can derive nothing from the anchor text isn't hindering the work – if anything the result is better.

I only noticed this after yesterday's post. But it does make me wonder more is Google Ignoring Links With Keywords?

Consider for yourself the sites I've shown. Those with graphics instead of text do well, so do those not using keywords in the anchor text. Those using keywords are being dropped…