Page rank is a topic which is fiercely debated in webmaster forums these days. Some webmasters pay for it, and believe it is important. Others believe that it is a complete waste of time, and does not play an important role in the success of your site. If you believe either of these things, you may be surprised to find that there is truth to both sides of the debate. While Google placed a higher importance on page rank in the past, this is no longer the case today.
At the same time, those who support page rank would say that the most successful sites are those with the highest page rank. It is hard to argue with this fact. Google, Wikipedia, and About.com have page ranks which are between 9 and 10. This websites get millions of visitors a day, and may cost thousands of dollars for you to advertise on them, if they even allowed it. Because of this, page rank does play a factor in the success of a website. Page rank can be defined as a measurement of the importance of a page. On the Google Toolbar the page rank will range from 0 to 10.
Brand new sites will have a page rank of 0, while established websites like Wikipedia may have a page rank of 9. Many webmasters feel that page rank gives them a good idea of how important a site is. In a sense, page rank does play an important part of SEO. It is obvious that websites like Wikipedia are well optimized. However, while page rank is important for search engines, it has little to do with internet marketing. Having a high page rank doesn't guarantee that your site will generate sales. It only says that a particular page on your site is important.
Another problem with page rank is that it can be manipulated. There are a number of sites out there which show a page rank of 7 which are not a PR7. A good way to tell if page rank is accurate is to look at the age of a site. Very few sites have a page rank of 7 or higher which are only a year old. Unless the webmaster spent millions of dollars on the site, it is likely that the page rank is fake. Many webmasters sell text links based on page rank, and this has become a large industry, However, Google frowns on this type of behavior.
Page Rank is based on links between your site and other sites, in fact specifically between web pages, since it is links between individual pages rather than complete websites that interests Google. That is because Google lists individual pages and not domains. There is a formula that Google uses to determine the value of each link to your site, which is based on the PageRank of the web page providing the link and also the number of other links leaving that page.
You can see the page Rank in the Google PageRank bar on the Google Toolbar ? it is the green bar that shows a numerical value of 0 to 10 when you hover your cursor over it. This value is logarithmic, which means that if it takes 10 links to reach PR 1, then it takes a lot more to reach 2. If Google uses a logarithmic factor of 8, as it might do (nobody knows), then it will take 8 links to your site to get to PR 1, 64 to reach PR 2, 512 to PR 3 and so on. This is very basic, since, as I have stated, it also depends on the PR of the page providing the link and the number of other links leaving that page.
Here are the top 4 reasons that in my opinion help most to generate traffic and make you money:
1. The higher your Google PageRank, then the higher Google is likely to list you in the search engine results pages. Google take the view than the more other websites link to yours, then the more relevant your web page must be to the topic in hand, otherwise they wouldn't link to you. In fact, the links are to specific pages in your site, not to the site as a whole, which is why it is called ?Page Rank? and not Site Rank.
2. The higher the Page Rank, then the more relevant other people will consider any particular page on your website to be. They will feel more confident that if they visit your site they will have their questions answered and find the information they are looking for.
3. A high Page Rank shows that you have a high number of links on the pages of other websites. There is then the possibility of others clicking on these links to get to your website.
4. The higher your Page Rank, then the more people will want you to link to their website. That means that they too will be likely to visit your site. They will also offer you a reciprocal link if you want one, and that too will provide you with more exposure online.
There are some factors you should keep in mind that could affect your Page Rank. The way your domain name is presented is very important. Take at look at these domains:
They are all different URLs that will lead somebody using them to your domain. However, search engine spiders see them all as different URLs, and if you use different ways to write your home page URL, then they will all be listed separately, and all be given a different Page Rank. Thus, the page rank for any one of them will be weaker than your page would have been if you had used only the one way to express it. Get into the habit of expressing your domain in only one way.
There are other ways in which poor use of your website URLs and also injudicious linking policies, can harm your Page Rank, but the main point that should keep in mind is that the your page rank applies to each page individually, and you get a share of the Google PageRank of the page that provides you with the link. If that page has a PR of zero, then you get nothing.
In giving my reasons for page rank being important in building traffic, I should stress that it is not one my more important ways of building traffic. However, Google takes notice of your PageRank, otherwise why would it bother giving you a Page Rank in the first place. For that reason alone it is well worth building up as many links back to your webpages as possible, not just for the traffic, but also to keep your website in the public eye.
It is the Home Page that is highest listed on most search engines, and also the page is given the highest PageRank, so if you can persuade others to link to your home page in return for a link from a page internal to your site, then that would be a good deal, and is what you should be trying for.
Don't ask me though, because I would a link back from your highest Page Ranked page!
Both Roberto Bell & Peter Nisbet are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Roberto Bell has sinced written about articles on various topics from Food and Drink, Health and Colon Cleanse. Please feel free to reprint this article, just be sure that my signature file remains in tact and the link inside of it is clickable to the proper destination. To learn more about what. Roberto Bell's top article generates over 90500 views. to your Favourites.
Peter Nisbet has sinced written about articles on various topics from SEO Articles, Online Dating and Advertising Guide. Page Rank is an important property of your website, and for more information on internal and external linking strategy check out Pete's website