Google PageRank Revisited
Posted in Featured, SEO | advertisers backlinks Google Link Building PageRank search engine optimization
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Google PageRank, the proprietary algorithm at the core of Google Search ranking, is probably one of the most written about topics of search engine optimization as a whole. There are a lot of myths about it and many would be SEO professionals have a hard time grasping the meaning or importance of PageRank score.
The Basics
PageRank is displayed in the Google Toolbar or another PR viewer as an integer between 0 and 10 inclusive. Depending on the source, the value N/A for not available may also be used for pages lacking the score altogether. This visible value is only updated once in a while and is usually a poor indication of the current ranking potential of a given page or website. It also has little connection to the actual algorithm used by Google to rank pages.
(Why) Should I Care?
If PageRank does not matter for search rankings, why should anyone care about it then? The short answer, of course, is that you shouldn’t. However, depending on how you monetize your website, it gets a bit more complex than that.
Many advertisers or advertising networks pay attention on the PR score of your website. This is especially true for various text link -type networks, but to a lesser degree also to contextual or impression based networks. Also, if you are planning to flip your website, potential buyers almost always look at the score, even if they don’t place much weight on it.
How to Improve
PageRank is based on the links pointing to your site. To improve the score, you need to get more inbound links, preferable from established sites. There are many reasons to link build, so usually improving your PageRank score is just a bonus with little practical value.
You should not make decisions based on PageRank. Neither the score of your site, nor the score of others’. It is important to understand how the algorithm works, because something like it lies at the heart of most modern search engines. Your understanding will help you optimize your sites better, if that is shown as a high PR value, fine, but you should much rather see increased organic traffic.
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Nice tips. I would like to use these for increasing my websites page rank in future.
These are solid PR tips. I personally love PR as I feel like it gives everyone something to work towards.
Web marketing isn’t just about SEO or PageRanking or blogging or whatever new web marketing idea is out there - it’s about constantly evolving to follow the current web marketing trend while at the same time not neglecting the tried-and-tested methods. It’s a synergy of everything that works, and not just one cutting-edge methodology.
Patrick, you said it right! Its about everything, site design, optimization, seo…You can’t just nail one aspect and say that it is the most important. I can’t believe how much people think page rank matters. Look how much it changes!
I have always focused more on my rankings for search terms than for my PR. As long as my site can be found by those that will purchase from it I make money. So that is what drives me, not the number on the PR.
But an interesting thought has crossed my mind many times. If lots of people slowly build up their pagerank closer to the magical 10, won’t there be a need for a higher cap to keep tabs with? Or, is that way Google gives smack downs on occasion? To keep too many from coming too close to that point.
I don’t really get focused on my PR but I do think it’s important. A high PR indicates a high amount of trust placed by Google on you.
Some handy links to check your PR, if you dont want to install the Google toolbar:
thegetpr.com/index.php
gaijin.at/olsgprank.php
prchecker.info/check_page_rank.php
Will be using this info in a minute, cheers for the heads up!
I think its funny how so many people find PR super important. I mean, it does have a little weight, but should in no way be your main focus.
I don’t focus so much on PR, more on building content for my web site and expand to as much categories as possible. But i know PR meant a great deal for some web site owners who sell PRs.
I will try to follow your tips for increase my sites pagerank.Thanks for sahring.
Great Post! I think a lot of people get caught up in the “it doesn’t matter for SEO” debate, but don’t realize that there are other areas where it DOES make a difference.
Nice work….
To my opinion PR is very important for a website as this describes your page rank in google. And it is regarded as the importance by google in the google network. if you have a good PR then certainly your website have a valuable importance in te world of internet. Cheers to all those websites with good PR!!
nyce debate on pr and seo..i fink that as most of yo have said..pr is vital in hlping us to knw the ranking of one’s page…great job….
I don’t understand how people get SEO and PR mixed up, as they’re completely separate, but I believe they are both important when building a website for monetizing purposes. This is a great article - Thank you for your explanation.
The way I see it, PageRank is just another side of the dice. One minute, everyone thinks SEO is the Holy Grail to web marketing, the next minute, it’s Google’s PageRanking. The marketing rules in the real world still apply to the marketing rules online. You have to cater to a niche, you have to have the heart for whatever it is you’re doing, etc. In the end, what matters is what you do with the hand that was dealt to you. Don’t put all your hopes into one method and hope for the best.
PageRank is important to some people because they know that in order to get page rank you have some type of internet presence. That coupled with high rankings can show a stronger site (i.e. a PR 5 blog about some topic versus a PR 1 blog about the same topic will likely make much more ad revenue and likely ranks higher naturally for industry keywords but not always depending on the content).
was this required??
I mean PR is necessary if you planning to sell your site. It increases its credibility….nothing else…
literally no other importance of PR left and I just don’t bug Google to give me better PR or whatever…its useless
One thing that I’ve always found interesting is the mystique surrounding pagerank. At the basic level, it is pretty obvious how it works, and it’s original algorithm is in the public domain.
And yet, webmasters, even veteran webmasters, continue to pull a blank when asked how their site has gone up or down in PR.
I suppose this ignorance serves the ones ‘in the know’ to their advantage. I guess I shouldn’t fuss over it then.
BTW- great post.
Although PR lost a lot of it’s importance having high or moderately high PR ca still serve as huge bonus in many occasions. It still is indication that website/blog has been around for a while and that it has some quality backlinks. Naturally focusing only on raising PR above all else is futile but I don’t think it should be simply dismissed all together. Btw some changes of PR are not that easy to predict or explain… basic idea of how PR works is maybe simple enough but there is quite bit more to it. Also algorithm does change sometimes unexpectedly so it can actually be hard to explain all that happens especially with manual PR slaps.
PR can come in handy when you’re trading Blogroll links and selling ad space IMO. My focus has been to primarily build quality backlinks with the hope that PR will increase as Google updates. Don’t disregard PR entirely but instead devote a majority of your time to backlinks.
Cheers!
Great tips! will use this to help up my page ranks!
Nice tips for tackling those big G PR phenomenon. I haven’t gone too far to think PR is important, but this will help me and others as well.
Thanks.
Chris
Thanks for sharing the info. I can use it to improve my site.
today the PR is not so important as before,
but it always nice to know you have a hige PR (-:
Good introduction to Google’s pagerank. I will try some of your tips to improve my site’s statistics.
Im not that bothered about the page rank I just want my sites traffic levels to go through the roof, and i think its the same for most people I have seen many sites where they ave high PR but low traffic tankings
While I agree that PageRank should not be a goal in itself, but it does show the result of how popular your website is to Google, and it will cause your search results to go up.
For example, sites with high pagerank will be higher in the search results for the sites keywords than similar sites with low pagerank.
We found that internal link and anchortext optimization, after keyword research of course, will make a dramatic improvement (as soon as google refreshes their database).
Several comments mentioned good content, and that is right…in combination with your internal link optimization, the unique and niche content of your different pages (the more the better) will get good search results even though their pagerank may be less than your homepage.
After that comes the difficult task of finding internet directories and services related to you that will give you links. If you can make short videos about your product, you can now have dozens of your own sites and videos on (youtube, etc) pointing to your homepage.
Now I know why PR are so important.Thanks so much for the details.Good to know that you have a good PR.Keep it up my friend
Achieving high PR rankings for your website is a good thing. The higher your page rank the better. Promoting your website is a big help to get higher page rank. Thanks for sharing, very useful information.
I don’t sell links on my site, but one advertiser who contacted me told me that he looks for sites with PR of greater than 1. But beyond that, PR didn’t matter. In other words, he saw no difference between a PR of 2 and say a PR of 5. Silly to me, but that was his view.
Yep. Your perception of this PR thingy is accurate and right in optimizing our site. You are more right at exposing the idea of increased organic traffic. I believe this is by far more important than PR. I believe your monetization should be attributed to the contribution you make to the world. The greater your contribution the more reward you can get not only in term of money but the feeling of self-revered.
I totally agree that the inbound links from the well-established websites and blogs can increase your pagerank certainly indeed! Also the list mentioned by you for inbound links is comprehensive and sufficient. Thanks a lot.
There is not question that inbound links very important
How do we know that the PageRank algorithm is different from the algorithm used to rank sites for the search engine? Do you just mean it’s a very small factor in determining the actual results?
I think people should care about PR, because one of the trends, that you will notice, for alot of the competitive keywords, the top 10 google search results, will rarely show websites that have a PR of 0. And usualy the top website has the highest PR. This is not always the case…. but its a pattern you will see alot.
As you said PR of NA and PR 0 both are present but in my google toolbar I hv never seen a site with PR N/A. However when I check a couple of site manually through PR checker they show N/A. So what basically is the difference between a PR 0 and PR N/A?
Also please clarify about different PR value frm different servers of google. I am sure u would hv noticed when some PR checker queries the PR of a site from approx 20 google server.
Even I would like to know about the PR N/A and 0 that is something I need to understand. Your help would be greatly appreciated.
Having a high PR to me shows that I’ve put in effort and have done my due diligence to have a good amount of quality backlinks and have promoted my site effectively. I don’t think it should be overlooked. Great site btw!
This is really good information for increasing page rank thanks for sharing this information.
Great primer on PR and what it is all about. I appreciate the no nonsense approach. Refreshing in a world full of blogs claiming to have re-invented the wheel. Thanks.
Great post. Explains a lot about how to improve your page rank. How long does it take before page rank will show up on a new site? Less than 1 month old.
it is very tuff to get google page rank
Great! Just what I’ve been looking for.
Page rank is becoming less and less important these days, I agree. A site can rank high in the SERPs, yet have little or no page rank. However, I still believe PR can show how they look at a website and whither they consider is an “authority”. For this reason and the other stated, I thinks it’s important to get links from high PR sites.
I think PR should not be underestimated when it comes with placement in top results, along with page content and structure.
At top everybody has good on page optimization so PR comes in to a bigger role.
I believe that page rank is important. But, it’s funny how google is so dominate on the web as far as everything goes. I remember when google was not even heard of. But any ways i am having problems with my google tool bar on firefox 3.0 but i do have the beta version ill download the new release and see if that works.
It’s such a catch 22 with Google. You get positioned by the amount of visitors to your site, how long they stay on your page, etc…, but if your site is new, you get thrown to the bottom of the listings. How the hell do you start getting organic traffic when you’re on page 20!!!!
Mike
I honestly think that having relevant backlnks is of more importance than just PR alone. It’s one of the most boring tasks but in order to make it online with such fierce competition, we have to be committed and persistent with our activities.
Thanks for the tips! I am currently trying to build the PR on my site, and these are a great help to me!
Yeah, page rank just made my life more complex. It’s funny I still haven’t dreamt about it though. However, when I wake up, all I think about is page rank.
I am just waiting for the next page rank update, can’t wait to see what my new blog will be getting!
I wonder what will happen when PR will become obsolete to some new “PR”.
Revolution!
Thank you. My brother has a famous blog in Brazil! I´ll tell him about your blog. Very good!
Thank you for the great introduction to Google Pagerank.
Yes. You can have loads of links, but if you have low PR, you can find it hard to compete in many industries.
Nice tips for every beginner. Anyhow there is much more to do to get high PR. Most important is to write quality content, and you will get noticed from se, visitors, and other sites also. That would be very enough for start.
Thanks for this great article. It will help me market my website better.
Pagerank is important only if you want to sell links or do paid reviews. I noticed that even with my PR going down my page was at the same place in ranking.
Nice post.
Pagerank can be important for a number of reasons. You’re placed higher in google searches, your site is more attractive for advertisers and posters/contributors, etc. Even if you’re not looking to sell links or ads, it can only help you. Plus, some people might take pride in their page rank and in improving it.
Nice tips. I’m new to the pagerank game, only got started under a week ago and have been reading lots of blogs and articles. I liked yours, it was a nice easy read. Looking forward to more.
A few months ago, I was very much concerned on that and have worked extensively on PR, now, That is nothing else than a green bar for me. Many of my sites even giving me good earning as compared to sites which have high green bar. I think we should let it go in a natural way.
Oh my Goodness, One of my sites jumper from PR N/A to PR5. I am shocked more than happy. I am not going to believe that because site hasn’t even a single backlink. Does PR is reliable anymore? I don’t think so.
Although you are happy but you should investigate it as well. It is almost impossible that in One PR Update a site can jump this much. Do you know forged or fake PR? If not then you should learn about it. I am going to give you a tip, In Google search box, type info:yourwebsite with and without www, I am sure that you will be redirected to some other site(other than your own site) with that PR.
page rank is important if there are numbers of search result come out on search engine.
i am working on nice keyword so that i do not think much about it, but looks like peoples start to write the same topic like mine.
that’s why i need to get a better G PR.
thx for the tip
Nice post, I too care about my sites PR for my advertisers and nothing more !!
Wow, that’s some really useful information. My page ranking is still 0, so obviously I have to work hard to improve it. Thanks!
Good Post! Thanks for your tips. Let me use it to improve my website status in Google’s perspective.
Hello, this is great post, thanks for it! And this time google don`t give me PR for my blog its still 0
!
PR is only an indication of incoming links and content. Anybody can get PR with a bit of elbow grease and work.
Pagerank is such a ballyhooed thing, I’ve seen tons of bloggers keep on raking in money with little or no PR at all. John Chow is now PR3 because of all his paid reviews and links…
These are very nice tips. I will try to follow your tips for increase my sites pagerank. but how does important google’s pagerank? i think the site’s quality not only calculate pagerank.
We see so many search engine experts saying that Page rank is not useful anymore. However Page Rank does have its advantages. Although t it is not a direct measure of a websites rank on search engines or its overall online visibility, it does improve as SEO strategy is implemented on a website. As a websites position and ranking on Google increases page rank will also increase in most cases. If you are expecting to generate revenue by offering banner adverts on your site then advertisers will probably look at page rank before making their decision to advertise. Similarly if you exchanging links other websites will most certainly look at page rank before reciprocating.
This is exactly what I need. Thanks for the tips. I hope it will improve my page rank in future.
So true, now days without a page rank your site is nothing. I guess it’s a numbers game really, the more backlinks the higher your page rank.
Thanks, this a great article.
So the more backlinks the higher the PR. Sounds simple but i’m guessing it isn’t.
Nice tips.Web marketing isn’t just about SEO or PageRanking or blogging or whatever new web marketing idea is out there…..Pagerank is such a ballyhooed thing, I’ve seen tons of bloggers keep on raking in money with little or no PR at all.While I agree that PageRank should not be a goal in itself, but it does show the result of how popular your website is to Google, and it will cause your search results to go up.PR can come in handy when you’re trading Blogroll links and selling ad space IMO.I would like to use these for increasing my websites page rank in future.
Great information
Very helpful information about pagerank. I have struggled to understand how google works this out. Excellent and clear article. Thanks.
I agree to a certain degree. I do have a domain that had a PR1 at that time, was number one on google for a very competitive keyword phrase and was outranking websites with PR3 and PR4. So I think you should be more concerned about getting more quality inbound links and the PR will follow you:)
Great Post! I think a lot of people get caught up in the “it doesn’t matter for SEO” debate, but don’t realize that there are other areas where it DOES make a difference.
Nice work….
great tips. great post.very informative
Good post. I’m working hard to increase my PR with Google so every bit of info helps.
thanks nice post, PR is important but not better than content. Because web pages for human, sorry my english, , hope understand me.
Thanks for the great information about Google pagerank.
I think with our obsession to get the most PageRank and Search engine placement, we have just forgot the basics. Just write good content with the right keywords and let the world take care of itself. At least it has worked for me, I have made little to almost no linking and I have PR3. Dont ask me how, I just wrote quality content
Gustav
WOW.. What a great post. That’s what i am looking for. I like the trick and will use it for my websites. Thanks for a great help
Nice tips. Its a great resource for us, I learn from you constantly. Thanks for sharing the info.
thanks for the information and tips. thanks for sharing!
Your post is informing.Actually I am always trying to rise the pagerank of my site,and it’s necessory.
Nice tips, I don’t care of my PR if I have good ranking in SERP, but it will be better to have both, So might I try this one.. Thanks..