I'm doing analysis on an underperforming site. Site is PR6 at the home page, drops to PR 5 at the next tier. Then the product pages below that can be PR 4-or-5, or Grey Bar, or White Bar.

I don't know the history here. On page factors are pretty much a disaster, so to me that suggests no prior SEO. On the other hand, I see some pretty irrelevant BLs that didn't find their way there by accident. I think there's a tiny bit of dupe content going on too, not intentional spam, but a partnered enterprise selling the same stuff with the same descriptions and sales copy.

Is there any good way to discover what the problem is with the toolbar PR and lift any imposed penalties? What's the difference, if any, between grey and white?

<edited for typos>

[edited by: RossWal at 2:41 am (utc) on Oct. 29, 2006]