About PageRank

The recent Toolbar RageRank update once again has generated a lot of discussion in the SEO community. Webmasters report their websites receiving not much more traffic despite the increased visible PageRank. In numerous forum threads people question the reliability of toolbar values. By unveiling the following five myths I hope to answer to some of the uncertainties caused by this update.

1. PageRank values range from 0 to 10.

While some people believe that PageRank is an integer number or at least converge to an integer after intensive recursive calculations, actually it is a floating point number. Google rounds up the real value to the closest integer and puts it on the 0-10 scale which is displayed in your browser toolbar.

2. PageRank value displayed in the toolbar is the one used to rank the results.

As you might have noticed, the toolbar value is updated every few months with no regular intervals. In the present time Google continuously calculates and updates PageRank so that sometimes actual PageRank and its toolbar values can differ. The toolbar value should be considered not as a current rank but as a level your page has reached by the time of the latest toolbar update.

3. PageRank is the primary factor to rank the search results.

Not exactly. PageRank was the backbone of the Google success as a search engine because of its integrity, ability to use the unique democratic nature of the web and hyperlinks, and relatively high immunity to abuse. But as years passed the Google technology became far more sophisticated. Now Google uses a cloud of factors to rank its search results. Some of them are query specific (keyword saturation of the page copy and the backlinks’anchor text) and some of them are domain specific (domain age, keywords in domain name, and of course PageRank). Nobody outside the Google’s offices knows the actual weight of each factor and it is quite possible that PageRank is no longer the primary one.

4. Google toolbar shows an increase of PageRank for my pages. My traffic is going to skyrocket!

Wrong. There won’t be any sudden traffic increase after toolbar upgrades any more. As I said before, the continuous calculation and update of the Google’s internal PageRank means that the rankings also adjust gradually as your pages get or lose backlinks. So the toolbar upgrade itself will not cause any changes in search results.

5. Toolbar PageRank is of no use, it is just for entertainment.

This is allegedly a quote by one of the Google representatives. This is only partially true. The reason why Google doesn’t show the actual PageRank any more is that there have been repeated attempts by hackers to access an exploit these data. Since 2004 the toolbar values updates are no longer synchronized with the actual rankings changes, and therefore should not to be considered too seriously in terms of SEO. However toolbar ranks still remains the easiest and most obvious way to evaluate the quality of a page and millions of web users regularly judge websites according to what Google toolbar shows them.

All major sites indexed by google have a rank between 0 and 10, 10 being the best. I’m wondering how many page rank 10 pages actually exist and which ones they are?

A recent Pagerank jiggle seemed to indicate that something interesting was happening. Could Google be using its Pagerank system to prevent low-quality sites getting free traffic?

Several of my own observations indicated that low-value Pagerank links may decay over time.

One webmaster reported a jump from Pagerank zero to Pagerank five, purely from a recent link-building campaign. During his link building efforts, he got a few links from a Pagerank 6 blog, and he expected those links “to fade as new posts come out”.

The way that blogs work is that new posts appear on the homepage which is usually the highest ranked page on the blog. Over time, those blog posts move off the homepage and into the archives, where they usually have less Pagerank.

What if the whole web worked in the same way? If new links were counted “in full”, but over time the Pagerank of the links “faded”?

If that were the case, a site that was receiving lots of traffic, but which stopped getting links would eventually lose its traffic. That’s what I experienced with one of my own websites which was chugging along at 2,000 visitors per day. After the PageRank jiggle, the traffic dropped.

Another indication of Pagerank decay came from an SEO expert who wrote that “You need fresh links today, and in the future”.

Are you starting to see a pattern? Pagerank from older blog posts fades, a site that didn’t get any recent links experienced falling traffic, and an SEO expert saying you need continual fresh links.

Here’s my Pagerank Decay theory…

1: Google loves quality sites.
2: Quality sites get links naturally over time.
3: Low value links decay over time.

“PageRank Decay” would benefit Google, because if a site only gets low-quality links, and the PageRank of those links decays over time, the webmaster either has to continually build more links, or give up.

Webmasters who try to manipulate Google will most likely be getting low-quality links. If they spend time building links, they’ll get traffic, but only for a while unless other sites start linking to them naturally. If they don’t get any new links for a while, their traffic will fall.

On the other hand, if a webmaster builds a quality website that other webmasters choose to link to, the site will maintain, or even improve, its search engine rankings naturally.

It’s possible that Google only applies Pagerank decay to low-value Pagerank links. Presumably, the age of a link from a top-quality website wouldn’t affect its value. Anyone who had a site good enough to get a link from a Pagerank 8 or higher website wouldn’t see the value of that link dwindle to nothing in over time. Sites with PageRank 8 or higher would thereby form a “backbone” of quality, trusted sites from which PageRank would flow to lesser sites.

The bottom line is that, if you accept PageRank Decay exists then anyone who works really hard to build “low value” links into their sites will have to keep working hard just to maintain their traffic.

PageRank Decay is like a hamster wheel for webmasters who build sites that don’t get natural links.

I have put up my website for online lamp retailing about tthree months ago and see that the PageRank on Google’s toolbar is still at 0/10. How long before I get some ranking?

Thanks!

http://www.apolialights.com

Does Google’s PageRank consider how many times a web page is visited by internet surfers besides considering its incoming hyperlinks?

Many people are aware of the importance of inbound links. Basically the more links to your website, the better your website will perform in the search engine rankings. For example, if you compare your website to your competition’s webiste, and everything on the page (metatags and keywords) are the same, then the website with the most inbound links would rank higher.

This concept is referred to as link popularity. And just like a popularity contest, the more popular you are the more attention you get.

What most people are not aware of is that some websites make for better link partners than others. In fact Google has created a system to measure the link value of any webpage. This is called Pagerank.

PageRank is a link analysis algorithm used by the Google Internet search engine that assigns weight, or a value, to web pages. The algorithm is used in determining the authority and relevance of a webpage for search engine results. Basically the higher the Pagerank, the better the search engine rankings.

The name “PageRank” is a trademark of Google, and the PageRank process has been patented (U.S. Patent 6,285,999 ). However, the patent is assigned to Stanford University and not to Google. Google has exclusive license rights on the patent from Stanford University. The university received 1.8 million shares in Google in exchange for use of the patent; the shares were sold in 2005 for $336 million.

According to Google “PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves ‘important’ weigh more heavily and help to make other pages important”.

So having higher Pagerank websites linking to lower Pagerank websites will benefit the lower Pagerank website, but not necessarily detract from the higher Pagerank websites.

The best way to track your inbound links is to use Google’s webmasters program.

The Pagerank is assigned to webpages based on a 0-10 scale. Websites with a Pagerank 10 or PR10 are considered the most popular, and usually are considered the most authoritative on the world wide web. The webpage http://google.com would most definitely fall under this category.

Right below PR8 and PR9 are considered very high achievements. Ebay and ESPN.com homepages would fall in this category.

PR7 and PR6 are above average rankings, and will usually do well for their relevant keywords.

PR3 through PR5 are considered average. These ranking require some effort to achieve.

At the bottom is PR0 through PR2. These are fairly easy to acheive given the right amount of inbound links.

Pagerank Linking Strategy

Key to achieving good Pagerank is having a proper linking strategy. By all means the more above average or elite Pagerank website you have linking to you the better, but this is usually very difficult especially for a new website.

When a webmaster decides to launch a new website, they usually embark upon a link building campaign.  A proper link building campaign should start with identifying the keywords that their visitors would use to find the website. The next step is finding relevant websites they could receive inbound links from. In the past, link exchanges or reciprocal links were used to quickly build Pagerank. Currently the most effective way to build inbound links is by joining social networks, social bookmarking and commenting on blogs.

Certain blogs, like Wordpress allow for comments to include links to the commentator’s website. This means that simply by making innocent comments on relevent blogs you can achieve some Pagerank for your new website.

Also keep in mind that Pagerank is assigned to each webpage, not each website. So your hompage could be a PR4 and your About Us page could be a PR2. The interior pages of your website should factor into your Pagerank linking Strategy. Don’t get too caught up into making your homepage the only webpage that recieves inbound links.

Also remember to give a little “link love” back. So often people think that Google only values their inbound links, that people lose sight of the bigger picture, and forget about outbound links. Contrary to some SEO myths, outbound links do not hurt your Pagerank, so long as they are relevent to your website.

Selling Pagerank

Currently there is quite a bit of controversy regarding the selling of Pagerank.

Google has warned against such a practice of selling links to increase Page Rank.

In taking their stance, they clearly state that they will uphold the quality guidelines set forth in their webmaster guidelines. Any site caught selling links to increase Page Rank will be dealt with accordingly. To quote Google they say “we reserve the right to protect the quality of our index.”

Unfortunately there is very little means for Google to police this policy. Unless the websites selling Pagerank actually listed what webpages were involved in the illicit activity, Google would have no way of identifying the bad webpages from the good webpages.

Until Google finds a way to actually discriminate between good and bad links, there will be very little recourse for punishing the culprits.

I work for a small electronics company and am wondering if building a group page on LinkedIn would help our search engine optimization? When someone joins your group, does the link to your site on their page help increase your number of inbound links?

This is possibly one of the most asked questions with regard to article submissions on the Internet. So what is the answer?

Well the answer is not as simple as a yes or no, as it can be both, and it can be neither! “What?” I hear you ask!

Their are two ways of submitting articles, the improper way, which will result in Google giving you a few negative points, and the right way which can mean various bonus Google points. While they keep fiddling about with the algorithms for Pagerank and search results, the most noteworthy thing that does continue is that you have sufficient back links to your site, preferably one-way.

Gone are the days when any kind of links would do in order to help towards a Google Pagerank, due to a change around the beginning of 2007, the only links likely to aid you receive higher search placing and Pagerank are websites that have a Pagerank of FOUR or greater. So those of us who spent the last few years building up any links to our websites, have now found that Google is no longer interested. This is not all bad news, as they still benefit with Yahoo, Lycos, etc. So do not ignore them completely, but it is best to concentrate on those with a 4+ Pagerank.

One thing the majority of people forget when submitting an article is that Google will ignore duplicates. So if you add your article to a Pagerank 2, and a Pagerank 4 free submission site, and they are exactly the same, if Google picks up the earliest one, you will only get the Pagerank 2 pointing to you by Google, as I mentioned earlier, this is pretty worthless now.

The only way of ensuring each submission to different article sites actually counts as helping your own Pagerank is to change the text in your article for each submission. This can be as simple as just changing synonyms or you can go as far as rearranging paragraphs. A mixture of a few things is usually best, and just changing the odd word will not work either. This can be a laborious thing to do manually; luckily software is out there to assist you, while some are much better than others.

So by submitting your articles to Pagerank 4+ sites only, and changing a reasonable number of words, while retaining the same meaning, each submission should count in most way towards your Pagerank.

One last thing with article submissions is that by submitting masses of different subject articles to the same site, this does not benefit your Pagerank, as only one link will count on Google. However, the benefit this does for you is that your website is more likely to benefit from these articles being republished across the Web, and a small number of these will be from sites with a decent ranking.

I have a website PR1 and the domain 1 year old.
If I got 5 lifetime links PR5 to my website, what is going my pagerank to be? and how long is going to take?
and what if got 10 links PR5?

Google uses the PageRank algorithm to rank pages in their search engine results. The algorithm is based on analysing link structures: each link can be seen as a vote by a page for another page it links to. It is necessary to have a basic understanding of how PageRank works to be able to optimize web sites for the Google search engine .

History of PageRank

PageRank was invented by Larry Page at Stanford University, and named after him. Page began the project in 1995, and worked on it with Sergey Brin. The project then lead to the prototype Google in 1998. Google Inc. was founded to manage the Google search engine, which used PageRank. Currently the trademark PageRank belongs to Google Inc., but the original patent for the PageRank algorithm is assigned to Stanford University.

Google has since grown to the largest search engine in the world, with nearly two thirds of searches made on Google. The PageRank algorithm is still one of the factors taken into account in Google’s search engine result ranking, and it is constantly followed by interested search engine marketing specialists around the world.

The PageRank Algorithm

A good analogy for the PageRank algorithm is that each link is a vote for the target page. This link structure of the web is analyzed recursively, so that the value of each vote depends on the PageRank of the voting page, calculated from the votes in the previous iteration of PageRank.

When a new page comes into being in this link structure, it will only get a PageRank value once other pages link to it. Each link will give some PageRank to the new page, the amount a single link gives depending mostly on two things: the PageRank of the linking page, and the number of links on it. The more outbound links a page has, the less weight each of them will have.

The actual algorithm used by Google is, naturally, more complicated then this. That algorithm also takes into account page topics. Pages with the same, or related topic that link to each other will carry more weight with their links than completely different pages that link to each other.

It is thought that raw PageRank data exists as a floating point number for each page. These real time values are constantly updated by Google crawlers. The visible PageRank value that can be seen on the Google Toolbar is on a scale from zero to ten. This is exported from the real time PR data approximately once every three months. On Google Directory the PageRank is reported as an eight unit measure, which is also periodically compiled from the real time data, though less often than the toolbar PageRank is.

In Conclusion

The voting analogy describes the PageRank algorithm fairly well, but, though Google may claim so, it is not a completely democratic system. The weight of each link depends both on the PageRank of the page linking and the number of links it has. To improve PageRank, more inbound links, preferably from pages with high PageRank, must be acquired.