Google Page Rank
- Important
or Just Another Number?
Preface
First
a quick overview as to what the Google Page Rank
actually is...
Google
Page Rank (or PR as it is often referred to as)
is simply an indication of the number of websites
that link to a specific website. It also attempts
to indicate the quality of those links. PR ranges
from 0 to 10 (with 10 being the 'best' PR and
0 being
the 'worst'). The vast majority of small business
websites will usually find they have a PR of between
0 and 5.
To
calculate a particular sites PR, Google uses a
fairly complicated algorithm based on the number
of web links that it is aware of that link to
the site in question. This algorithm will also
take into account the PR of the page that is providing
the link. Thus, a link from a web page that has
a PR of 7 will be considered more valuable than
a link from a page with a PR of 4.
Because
of the way in which links from higher PR-ranked
sites are considered more important, many people
are choosing to buy links from websites with high
PR's just so that they can increase their own
PR. I have seen sites selling a simple text link
on
their home page for over $700 a month purely based
on the fact that they have a PR of 7 or above.
This may seem like a lot of money but when you
consider that the website owners who are buying
these links often have websites that are in no
way relevant to the content of the site linking
to them, it is absolutely ridiculous.
Take
this example, let's say you have a website about
health and fitness and you buy a link for $500
a month from a random website because it has a
PR of 7. This random website has no relevance
to your health and fitness site so what is going
to happen?
Well, your own PR may increase as a result of
the link. You may get a bit of extra traffic but
probably not much since people don't click on
links that that they are not interested in. You
will definitely be $500 poorer at the end of the
month!
Instead,
why not spend the $500 on pay-per-click advertising
and benefit from some quality, targeted traffic?
Of
course, there is a bit more to it than that and
the reason that most people want to increase their
PR is because Google takes this statistic into
account when determining where a website will
be displayed in their search results. Many people
assume that a high PR automatically equals a high
search engine placement for their chosen keywords.
Not so....
PR
is just one of over 100 different factors that
Google takes into account when deciding where
your website will feature (and these factors and
the main algorithm change on a very regular basis).
It is perfectly possible for a website with a
PR of 5 to
get a higher ranking than a PR 7 site if it has
better content or is more relevant for the search
term in question.
Remember
that relevance is all important with Google and
a link from a website that is not relevant to
your own site will be considered far less important
than a relevant one (which makes buying links
from random sites primarily because they have
a
high PR even more crazy).
I
have read several rumours lately that Google hasn't
updated PR's for a couple of months and they are
considering phasing PR out or modifying it in
some way. This is pure speculation but it wouldn't
surprise me in the least. PR is easily manipulated
(for
example by purchasing links as described above)
and Google doesn't like to have their calculations
or search results manipulated. It stands to reason
that they are looking at ways of preventing this.
So,
in summary, is Google Page Rank important to your
business?
Well,
it is a good indicator of how many other sites
link to yours and how important Google considers
your site to be, BUT I personally don't place
too much importance on this statistic and I certainly
won't be paying out for a link from a website
just
because it has a high PR.
As
I said above, Google changes it's rules on a regular
basis and I see little point in chasing a particular
PR on the basis that it might get you higher search
engine rankings. If Google does decide to do away
with PR, all your work will have been for
nothing.Instead,
concentrate on building quality, relevant links
from sites that are connected in some way to your
own site content. This will ensure that any traffic
you receive via these links will at least have
an interest in your site. Building links on this
basis will automatically increase your PR over
time (without the need to pay out for overpriced,
irrelevant links). If you do things this way and
Google does scrap the PR indicator, it shouldn't
affect you in any way and the links you have in
place will continue to benefit you.
Remember,
in the same way that a low Alexa rating doesn't
guarantee traffic or sales, neither does a high
PR. Sure a high PR is a 'nice to have' but lots
of traffic and high sales is even nicer :-)
