what is the diffrence

[Bill]

So, is the live pr tool doing something google would consider a violation of terms then?

[Halfdeck]

Originally Posted by Bill

So, is the live pr tool doing something google would consider a violation of terms then?

I have no idea. The fact that there are no adsense ads or anything on that page should tell you something though.

[Linkster]

Halfdeck - that link that you posted is checking the stored text file that Google has for that url to get posted in the toolbar PR display - what makes that any different than just using the toolbar other than not putting cookies on ones own computer? That datacenter is one of the standard BD servers.
That xml is how Google transmits the text file to the toolbar and that has been around since 2002 and works as long as you know the checksum for your urls - it shouldnt be a problem using unless you are doing any auto queries.
Its interesting that they still serve the xml as they replaced that with a little text file some time back (a few years ago) to transmit the PR to the toolbar

[Halfdeck]

Originally Posted by Linkster

Halfdeck - that link that you posted is checking the stored text file that Google has for that url to get posted in the toolbar PR display

Linkster, if you look at the url, I ran a site:xyz.com on a BD dc (I can check any DC I want and any query string, instead of site:xyz.com and return anything from 1 to 100 results). The XML returned represents a list of SERP results.

Here's the XML for the search "free porn" on 64.233.179.99 (random DC I chose) that returns the first 100 results.

http://64.233.179.99/search?client=n...&q=free%20porn

The checksum isn't a "security measure" per se (ok, I exaggerated). One reason for Google putting it there is probably to prevent people from using scripts to send loads of automated queries. Yes, there are various ways you can pull up the checksum, including cookies.

[Linkster]

I understand what you are doing with the xml - but what good does it do anybody - the rank in the results is the rank displayed in the toolbar, and certainly doesnt give any more info than just doing the same search and viewing the source of the resulting SERPs - seems kinda like a waste of time???

[Halfdeck]

Originally Posted by Linkster

the rank in the results is the rank displayed in the toolbar

Linkster, RK and toolbar PR tends to be the same for established domains with stable PR, but take an inside page like

http://www.linkforsex.com/adult-links/group-sex.html

My Google toolbar says PR 3 right now.

http://66.102.9.99/search?client=nav...group-sex.html

RK = 4

RK is not always PR displayed in the toolbar.

Live PRs / toolbar PR across multiple DCs:

http://livepr.raketforskning.com/?u=...group-sex.html

Originally Posted by Linkster

seems kinda like a waste of time???

I never said it isn't

[Linkster]

Stuveltje - the difference is that toolbar PR is up to 3 months old (its just a snapshot of PR taken when Google feels like it and put into a database to show on the toolbar)
The "live" PR is what some people think is what Google has as the PR for a page "today" (or within the last day or so) and is what is used in the daily updates Google does now.

As far as whether it makes a difference which you use - my question has always been - why worry about it because it doesnt have very much effect on your ranking for keywords, and it has very little use to know what the live or toolbar PR is - because they dont gain or lose you anything.

I guess my question to you Stuveltje is - why would you care what the PR is of a page? Is someone basing link trades on it? If so I would run the other direction because they dont know what they are doing.