No other rank is talked about more than Page Rank. Everything from advertising rates to web site bragging rights are based on a site’s page rank. It’s not surprising that many people value a website solely based on its page rank.
Page Rank is that ubiquitous ranking that Google gives to every web page in their index. It’s not based on the popularity of a page or even the quality of a page. No, it’s based on the number and quality of links pointing to the page. More than that, the actual page rank of a page is never divulged. Instead a toolbar Page Rank is published for each page every 3 to 4 months. Instead of being a completely algorithmic way of ranking sites, Google tweaks the results to fit their own business needs, opinions and prejudices. As a pure ranking system, it is dubious at best.
Research has shown time and time again that toolbar Page Rank has nothing to do with rankings in the search engine results page and nothing to with search engine traffic. With or without a toolbar page rank, you will pass link quality onto other sites and help other sites rank well in the search engine results.
Don’t get me wrong, I think there is some value to Page Rank. You can get better offers when someone wishes to have a link from your page to their page. Advertisers that misconstrue Page Rank with popularity will also pay more for an ad based on your site’s Page Rank.
If you notice, one of the only values of page rank is that having page rank will give you more advertising opportunities. It’s simple really, advertisers consider a link to a site with a higher page rank to be more valuable.
But herein lies the big problem. If you sell a link that is more valuable because of your page rank, Google will take away your page rank. In other words, if you sell a link without a nofollow tag on your site, Google will strip away your page rank. Let’s put it in a little different terms. If you sell your page rank, ie the only way to access the value of having page rank, Google will take it away.
I had an epiphany about 8 months ago. I realized that Page Rank has no value unless it is being used and once you start using it, it will go away. I decided that I could make a choice. I could let Page Rank sit on the shelf giving me no value or I could use it now and access the value in it. I chose to access it now and I have never regretted it. The traffic on my sites have increased and I had immediate access to the Page Rank value I had built up.
Tags: Google, page rank, page rank value
4 comments ↓
That was a learning experience I never knew what page rank was all about. I still need to learn more about it. I guess it is just something that has eluded me. So I shall check it out and learn more about it.
Last I heard this was going to court - something about the basics of the code and whether they should be allowed to continue with a patent on it. Time will tell
Since this has been so iffy, with many ups and downs, and even though Alexa has its faults, too, I watch the Alexa traffic indicator over the google pr rank for places I visit, comment on, etc.
Neither is a perfect solution though.
I think I’m still a bit too green to really focus on any one aspect of it. My biggest concern right now is in getting quality backlinks and building consistant traffic so that the public at large can find me. The biggest mystery that I would love to solve is this (perhaps you may be able to enlighten me here) - many of my lenses on Squidoo are getting awesome, targeted traffic from Google with a few from AOL, MSN, Ask, etc. But no Yahoo. I think Yahoo hates me. I’ve submitted them to the Yahoo search (some months ago) and still no direct traffic and no indexing. I’m stumped. Even typing in the most DIRECT search that I can think of only takes me to pages (Bumpzee, Digg, etc) where each lens is listed, but none to the lenses themselves. Running a Yahoo backlink checker shows them and their associated links, but I still can’t break through to the Yahoo Search itself. Any tips?
I am the same i never really understood all this page rank stuff. I try my hardest to get the traffic every which way.
I am glad you posted this. Nice post
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