Maybe you noticed it too? Alot of people wondering if PageRank is important? The usual answer I see looks something similar to this, “it’s not important.”. That is when my jaw drops! I am here to tell your PR is very important and understanding it is critical to your success within Google.
PageRank is a link analysis algorithm, named after Larry Page,[1] used by the Google Internet search engine that assigns a numerical weighting to each element of a hyperlinked set of documents, such as the World Wide Web, with the purpose of “measuring” its relative importance within the set. The algorithm may be applied to any collection of entities with reciprocal quotations and references. The numerical weight that it assigns to any given element E is referred to as the PageRank of E and denoted by PR(E).
PageRank Defined
Let’s simplify that technical term. PageRank is how Google grades your website by taking into consideration the amount of inbound links to your website period.
Where you list in Google is compromised of 200+ factors the Google algorithm takes into account when indexing your website pages. It should not be confused with your Google PR.
What is an inbound link?
An inbound link is a url link found anywhere on the world wide web pointing to your website.
The more natural inbound links you have, the higher your PR will rise. The more rank those inbound links hold, the more they are worth. This worth is defined by their link weight. Meaning if your website has a PR 2 website linking to it, it is worth approximately 5 times as much than a PR 1 website linking to your site.
How PR affects SERP’s
A good example of how PR affects your serp’s. Say for instance you list number 1 in Google for a search term and you have a rank of 0. Let’s also assume you made it into the index by applying SEO techniques to that keyword you learned at Niche Website Strategy. *winks*
Now, let’s speak hypothetically.
Say for instance I target that same keyword and my website has a rank of 3 with the same SEO techniques applied to it, of-course.*chuckles* I was then indexed a month after you where indexed in Google. My higher ranking website would overcome your lower ranking website in that index. So, instead of your website link in the number one listing it would be replaced with my link.
This is what Google is saying to us webmaster’s — the more people that naturally link to your website and the more those inbound links weigh(pr) , the higher the value your website will hold in serp’s and the less you will need them. This value will then be reflected in your PR.
So let’s recap..
- Pagerank is a grading system created by the Google for your website based on the total amount of inbound links and they take into consideration the weight those inbound links hold. Again when we talk about link weight we are referring to PageRank aka PR
- Ranking is a way to help Google determine how much they should trust a website based on the popularity and weight of incoming links to a website.
- Rank is important to webmaster’s wanting to retain or enhance their keyword listing within the Google index aka search engine result pages.
- PR plays a huge role in keyword research. The higher the website rank the harder it will be to effectively overcome and compete against those websites with Google. Again the higher the PR the more inbound links a website holds.
- A high PR website with sound SEO techniques will always be worth more than a low PR site with the same seo techniques applied.
- Essentially PageRank is a popularity contest of every website indexed in the Google Search Engine. 10 being the most popular and 0 being the least popular.
- So you see, understanding what PR is, plus how to make it work for you, will ensure that you get exposure within Google SERP’s.
PR Downplayed
- It gets downplayed by webmasters because it is the holy grail of becoming popular in Google. If you serve up unique professional content regularly, if you practice SEO , if you understand PR and if you understand website performance then you will outrank those same webmaster’s downplaying it.
- It get’s downplayed because it can lead to webmasters just concentrating on inbound links and not quality content. This will lead to webmasters being sandboxed by Google if they receive too many inbound links too fast.
- It get’s downplayed because some webmasters do not rely on Google as a traffic source nor do the understand what it is or the importance of it. So we tend to hear comments like “it is not important”. When in all actuality they shouldn’t be giving advice because they don’t use Google as a source of traffic in the first place!
PageRank Conclusion
Let me make this clear your pagerank is only a concern if you want to use Google as a source of traffic. But then again why would we consider talking about PR outside the realm of Google in the first place? *chuckles*
I am all about making a better web. We know their are billions of search terms if not trillions. Why not get everyone on the same page serving up quality content to their readers? I can’t possibly ever expect to cover every single keyword in a given niche in my short lifespan because their are so many keyword variants and so many new trends it would be physically impossible for any one person to keep up on it. So I am of the opinion we can all prosper from SEO.
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[...] Hence many webmasters saying it is not useful. So the question being proposed is — is pagerank important? To determine this important factor though you have to take into account why many websites have a [...]