Google's Page Rank Explained
by Claude Beavers
An Introduction to PR
The complexities of Google's PR (Page Ranking) System
have grown more difficult to understand since the
Hilltop Algorithm was introduced. This beginner's
guide to the PR system explains the basics of what
PR is, what it does, and how it affects your site's
rankings. This revolutionary search algorithm has
made it to where the most relevant and popular sites
with the best content do the best on Google's search
page. Keep in mind, this algorithm is kept secret
by Google for fear of it being exploited, but the
basics have been released for study.
In a nutshell, Google's Page Ranking is a system
devised to rank pages based on their content and popularity
and place them accordingly within the search results
based on their relevance to the general topic. Or,
in laymen's terms, it's a system to make sure sites
are put where they need to be, both in search results
and in rankings. A site dealing with pet care is not
going to be listed in the top 10 when searching for
"web design," but depending on its content
and popularity it could be well towards the top of
the list on "pet medicine" or "sick
dog."
PR is on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the highest
ranking possible. Of course, only a very few sites
have a PR 10 or even a PR 9 for that matter. PR 7
and PR 8 sites are considered very good sites, with
lots of original, relevant content and a great deal
of inbound links. You will usually find sites with
a high PR at the top of the list under Google's search
engine, and many others, since relevant content and
lots of links is almost a prerequisite for being placed
high in any of the major search engines on any of
the major keywords.
PR Spread
PR is set up to "pass on" from one site
to another, or one page to another if it is within
your own site. As the PR "spreads" throughout
your site, you will get less and less utility from
it. A link from a PR 5 site to your main page will
give you a PR 4 link to your main page. Since your
main page will be linked to other pages within your
site, any links on your front page (up to 100 pages)
will then receive a PR 3 link from your main page.
It continues to trickle down, exponentially losing
power until it peters out.
Keep in mind, however, that depending on what page
linked to you, and how many links were on that page
in the first place, your PR could be significantly
lower than expected. If a PR 5 page links to your
site, but has 300 other links on that single page,
you may get anywhere from 0 to 4 PR. Thus it is beneficial
to have a limited number of links on your main pages,
due to the smaller amount of PR being passed down
with the more links it is being passed to. Overall,
a small, concise site with lots of inbound links and
few outbound links would be the ideal "PR trap,"
although relevant, original content is needed as well.
PR's Effect on Rankings
The effects of PR are plainly viewable to anybody
with the Google Toolbar. Simply search for a keyword,
and look at the PR rating of the top 10 sites. The
highest PR will usually be on the top of the list,
depending on content. If a PR 8, however, has a keyword
that does not match their content, they will most
likely be ranked lower than a PR 6 on the same keyword
with more relevant content on the subject matter.
A site with high, relevant, and original content,
along with matching keywords and a multitude of links
from related sites, will place extremely high on searches
containing their keywords. A site with old content
that is not updated often with links from non-related
sites and keywords that do not relate directly to
their content, on the other hand will probably not
show up within the top 100 sites on the same search.
So basically, PR is what drives listings on the Google
Search Engine. How to optimize your site to take advantage
of this system, however is the real challenge.
Utilizing PR
To make proper use of the PR system, many different
things must be done to assure your website is "acceptable"
within their guidelines. Basically, making your site
more relevant to your topic will have a great effect
on your PR ranking, especially if you are "popular"
among those sites, or have many links coming from
related sites. Each site on the internet has a Page
Rank, assigned by Google, based on their content and
popularity. To view the page rank of each site, download
the Google Toolbar from their site. It will automatically
show you the rank of the page you're on with a small
counter on your task bar.
Now, obviously a "good" site links to you,
it will have a better effect on your website's popularity.
Say, for example, a PR 3 website puts a link on their
links page to your main page. That link will be considered
a PR 2 link to your site (PR - 1), giving you a PR
of 2 on your main page. If, however, a PR 0 site adds
a link to your site, there is almost no change. A
link from a grayed-out site, which means they have
a negative PR, will actually be a detriment to your
PR, as they have been deemed a site not relevant to
anything (or relevant, but banned) by Google. Of course,
a link from a PR 7 site to your own will be drastically
more effective in boosting your PR than even 20 PR
3 links would.
Getting Good Links
One of the most important things to remember about
getting a high PR ranking is to get links from "good"
sites. These include sites that are directly related
to your own site in some way, and preferably sites
with a high PR of their own. Good examples include
award pages and directory listings. With relevant
links coming from related sites with a high PR, your
site will not only gain PR fast, but will gain in
real popularity. High PR sites traditionally have
high traffic due to their link volume and content.
If there is a link to you, it is a sign that you have
a good site on a related topic with good content as
well, attracting visitors who didn't find exactly
what they wanted. More visitors means more PR, which
in turn gets you more visitors. You can see how important
good links can be.
Try to steer away from sites with unrelated topics,
as these will probably not help much, if any with
your traffic, and may actually bring a penalty to
your PR. Other sites to steer away from when trying
to work up your PR would be FFAs, or Free For All
link programs. These sites allow browsers to enter
their link into a huge list (sometimes of thousands
of other sites). Usually you will find that these
sites have been "grayed out," or given a
negative PR effect by Google, bringing your PR down
if you have a link from them.
Doorway pages are another thing to avoid. These are
shorter, shallow sites that are created simply for
putting as many keywords and links as possible on
their pages in order to "farm" PR for higher
rankings on Google. These, in general, once they are
found are "grayed out," as well as sites
they link to. Enough links from these will assure
that your site will not show up on Google's search
at all.
Getting Good Content
Good, original content is not as hard to obtain as
some might think. By writing articles for your site
you can provide pages of completely relevant and unique
content, as long as the articles are on subject. A
few articles will give you plenty of original content
to get a fairly good "relevance rating"
with Google, which contributes to your PR rating,
and it will not trigger the dreaded "duplicate
content" tag that will doom your site to obscurity.
In addition, if you can get enough relevant content
together, you can eventually become recognized as
an "expert" in the field. With that status,
you will get enough traffic to boost your PR even
more. People are always in need of information, and
if you provide good enough information, you will find
yourself getting links from all over the internet.
PR in a Nutshell - an Overview
Basically, with enough unique content and relevant
links, you can have a high PR site and be ready to
take on the internet. Overall, things to keep in mind
are to stay consistent with your main topic, both
in links and in your content, and stay away from the
"no-no" sites mentioned above. If you can
do these things, you can gain a high PR and a good
ranking with Google in a relatively short period of
time.
About the Author
You can see other articles by Claude Beavers on this
topic at:
Online Promotion Articles at Superfaster.com
