8 Big Reasons Why PageRank Matters

March 22, 2008

Now that I’ve taken the time to tell you about the common PageRank myths, I wanted to spin this another direction and tell you why PageRank does actually matter. I’m not trying to confuse you here if you follow my logic.

You see, there’s truth and there’s reality.

The TRUTH is that PageRank alone does not DIRECTLY influence your rankings and you shouldn’t spend all your time obsessing over it. It’s just a small part of many elements that go into the algorithms that decide who ranks for what.

The REALITY is that PageRank can indirectly influence your rankings in many ways. It can be used as a general score to be applied for the credibility of your site and–let it be said–Not everyone can get a high PageRank score overnight. This statement can’t be disputed. So, if a site does have a high PR score, it is a loose measure of it’s quality and respect on the web.

Below are some reasons that you should pay attention to your PageRank score. Again, I don’t recommend that you obsess over this score (for the reasons I’ve mentioned previously). Treat it like you do your investments. Make good decisions and forget about it for about 3-6 months and then check back in to measure your progress. If necessary, make some changes.

1. Your PageRank score can add some weight and authority to your site.

There is one rule about PageRank and that is that it’s hard to achieve a high PageRank score. It takes a long time and it’s becoming harder and harder to fool Google with paid links and other illegitimate methods. Google wants their results to be pure and high quality so they’ll continue to make it hard for anyone other than a quality site to rank well in their listings.

2. PageRank is a basic measure of popularity

PageRank measures links to your site so in some way it is a crude measure of your popularity. Right or wrong, people do notice your PR score and associate it with popularity. The theory holds that if you have a lot of links to your site, someone must be reading your content and it must be valuable because they’re linking to it. If they’re reading and linking, then others will read and link and your traffic will ultimately increase. What you need to know is that PageRank is no substitute for hard traffic numbers and analysis though.

3. Indicator of Natural Linking and the amount of links to your site

PageRank is a lose indication of links into your site. As stated above, links usually mean traffic. Links also mean that someone has found your content valuable enough to link to it from their site. What’s most important to realize though is that a high PR score does not come about by deceptive methods. If you have a high PR it usually means that you have high quality, valuable links going to your site from other high quality sites. This is the value of PR in a nutshell and what Google has based their ranking algorithm on.

4. Google spiders will visit the site more often

The higher your PageRank, the more often Google will return to index your content. Google likes sites that are updated frequently so they do use your PR score as a way to flag high quality sites that need to be indexed as often as possible. This is good for you because your most recent content will appear and influence your rankings more regularly. This is especially important in SEO if you are making frequent changes and tweaks to your content so you rank better.

5. People will pay to be on a site with a high PageRank.

You may agree with the logic or you might not, but people do purchase ads based on a site’s PageRank score. If you sell advertising on your site in the form of paid links, banner ads, or other spots; the price of your ads can be determined largely in part by your site’s PR score.

Website advertisers look for hard data to help decide where they should spend their money. Currently, PageRank and Alexa rank are two of the biggest metrics. They provide hard numbers that help to measure the quality of a website. Until someone uncovers a better way to do it, PageRank will matter when discussing advertising.

6. A high PageRank score will attract links.

Another indirect benefit of having a high PR score is it’s ability to attract attention and links. As you see your score rise over time, you’ll be happy to see an increase in requests for link exchanges from high quality sites, offers to contribute to your site in some way, and in general, an increase in incoming links to your site from around the web. Plus, people that pay attention to PageRank as they go from site to site are commonly thought leaders who influence others. Chances are, they’ll be attracted because of your PageRank score and if they like what you have to offer, they’ll link to you and talk about you so other’s that respect them will also visit and link as well.

7. A high PR score commands respect and credibitliy

Like it or not, people will use your PageRank score as they’re first impression of your site. Not everyone does this of course, but when you’re trying to get links from other prominent sites and blogs related to your site, it’s a good bet that the leaders in your web community know about PR.

Before they even read one word, they might see that you have a high PR and they’ll instantly decide that this is a site that matters. You might have the best site in the land, but without a decent PageRank score people may judge you negatively as a site that’s just started out or someone that they don’t trust.

It’s like driving through a neighborhood and looking at some old, rundown looking houses. Some of these houses might have beautiful hardwood floors, marble counter tops and gold leaf accents throughout. But it doesn’t matter to anyone until the curb appeal of the home is improved.

People want to get links from high PageRank sites too so you’ll find that people are more motivated and receptive to your requests for correspondence, partnerships and reciprocal links when your site has “PR cred”. It might not be fair, but it’s reality.

8. It’s a general personal measure of your quality and progress

As a site owner, you can sum up your PR score like this: Your PageRank score is a rough measure of your site’s quality. Nobody can get a high PR out o the gate and it can’t be bought. So, if you have a high PR, you can feel pretty confident that you’ve done a good job presenting your content, services or products to the world. People have come and they’ve voted with their links and Google has been a witness; you’ve done a good job.

On this same note, you can feel pretty good that you’ve made some good progress with your site and your business. You’re doing something right if you have a high PR. People like you and respect you in the web community and chances are, you’ve been dedicated for a period of time. That shows that you’re committed and you’ll be around for some time.

Be proud of your PageRank score and wear it like a badge of honor when it matters. But don’t take yourself or your PR too seriously. As I’ve said, PageRank is only a small part of a very large picture that determines your rank in the SERPs. So keep tabs on your PR but spend your time on the fundamentals. Create great content, offer great products and services, interact in your web community and do your best; you’re golden PR will come.

photo credit: hfabulous