Unlike most SEO pro’s I look at the people who look not always what is good for Google. This can be seen very well when you look at Facebook, twitter, wikipaedia.

The other thing you need to remember is that Google rank where you are is almost always different to the one I see. Google shows you different search results to what it shows me. Somewhere in the middle is the truth.

Bing does not do things the same way but, all the search engines scan each other and notifying bing and getting them to scan your site will have surprising results. I have not mentioned Yahoo as they have lost the plot completely. People forget there are still over 300 other search engines and one of the biggest is Yandex and of course there are the golden oldies such as Altavisa.

at all times (and Google had best remember this), its about the people and when they stop looking after their market they will start shifting, a trend I have already noticed helped on by Facebook using Bing instead of Google.

Page rank is only important to Google as it is used by Google as a measure if that pages importance to Google, but Google is no longer the only game in town.

Social media has been and will continue to be a game changer. Some of the other professionals here have given you some good basic advice, such as change the look, for vertical search you must change the focus of the different web sites and always do the basics, keywords, title , header semantics etc correct.

As always it boils down to consistent hard work and getting to know who your target market is and who is looking for your services. That is the basis from which I work.

As to what I use to work out the PR, I use a range of Firefox tools and WEB CEO as well. Of course I also use Google and I use a new open source tracking PIWIK which is more accurate than Google. Combined with the server log file analysis and of course Google analytics and you get a better idea with all these things as to what is needed.

One client i have in the UK ( i am in Cape Town) started off with a hit rate of only 289 hits and 150 uniques, they now have nearly 20 000 uniques. The important thing is they are relevant for the clients industry.

Its very easy to get a million hits for nappies but what is the point if you are a graphic designer?

Be seen to be the Web Authority and G, Bing and Y will follow after.

Be a leader not a follower and all will find you.

That is my Google rule number 1. Google is an ad company making money is their rule, if you are making money its not good for them, so the rule of the game is change, change everything every three to six months.
My Google rule number two. When all else fails remember my Google rule number two.
My Google rule number three. There is no substitute for consistent hard work in SEO. It also helps to know a little about what people want and what they search for.

Your current page rank is 3 and with the advent of Facebook and such the only way that you can get a higher than a 5 is to have between 500 000 – 1million unique users or hire someone like me to manage your reputation online.

You are doing all the basics right, regularly writing original articles. Responding to your non-spammers and providing unique content for both domains.

But there is one thing you are not doing and that is partly what is causing issues for you still today. Making the content uniquely British on the .co.uk and the international stuff for the .com.

Interlink them both so for your clients that are international put those and the testimonials for them on the .com site and the UK only companies on the UK only site.

Good Google Hunting.
PS you should focus on Bing for a while.

Great news how you sorted your duplicate meta warning. Thanks for the bookmark.

I’ve been thinking of doing something different, and of using the .co.uk site for another purpose (perhaps a static collection of logos or design work).

They’re totally separate for now, and will stay that way until I have a little time on my hands.

Cheers.

I highly recommend taking a look at webmaster tools through Google. It can help iron out any issues you’re having, and also gives an insight into how well you’re progressing.

John,

Sorry to read of your PR drop. I don’t think that having comments enabled on your site would’ve been the cause, unless perhaps you had your comment links using the ‘dofollow’ tag, and that they were all going to bad neighbourhoods.

I’d bring the comments back, but keep the links ‘nofollow’. Don’t be afraid to delete a comment if you think it’s spam, and good luck getting your previous PR value back.