PageRank myths and tips

March 20, 2008

For those who don’t know what Google PR is (and I’m not talking public relations here) let me help you out. PageRank is Google’s way of assigning a rating to your site based on the amount of incoming links that you have to a particular page. High quality incoming links are like gold when talkin’ bout SEO. Therefore, you’d think that we should all be checkin’ our PageRank score on the hour right? Not so fast. Let’s quickly summarize what PageRank is and what it does and then we’ll talk a bit about why you shouldn’t take it quite so seriously. Let me summarize the process:

Google needs a way to attach a value (or score) to your site that’s based solely on a system of volunteer voting by your peers.
Google (actually Larry Page) decided that links are a great form of voting because they show that someone likes your content enough to link to it from their site.
Google invents and patents the PageRank algorithm which tracks relevant, high quality incoming links to your site and assigns a value to the site that’s linking because–as they soon find out–not all links are created equal.
On the Google search results pages, the PageRank algorithm helps to determine your page’s position in the SERPs. A page that is linked to by many highly valued pages with high PageRank receives a high score itself.
Google updates their PageRank continuously.
Your site then rises or falls in the search listings because of the combination of your current PageRank AND hundreds of other factors.

Your PageRank score is important on some level (and we’ll address why in an upcoming post), but here are some myths related to PageRank and why you shouldn’t take it too seriously.

PageRank Myths:

1. The PageRank score that you see is an accurate number. False.

Your Pagerank score can be seen via the Google Toolbar but the number that you see is NOT an accurate number and should not be taken very seriously.

First off, it’s updated about every 3-4 months so what you see there is completely outdated. I saw a great quote here that sums this up: “If you only consider how a PageRank shift will negatively affect you after it has happened, you’re already screwed.”

2. PageRank is calculated on a scale from 1 to 10: True but mostly false where it matters.

The number you see in the toolbar is a rounded estimate of your real page rank. The Google PageRank algorithm is far more precise and complex and it’s updated continuously. You won’t see this number anywhere. As Matt Cutts says:

“Certainly our internal PageRank computations have many more degrees of resolution than the 0-10 values shown in the toolbar.”

He continues:

I believe that I’ve said before that PageRank is computed continuously; there are machines that take inputs to the PageRank algorithm at Google and compute the resulting PageRanks. So at any given time, a url in Google’s system has up-to-date PageRank as a result of running the computation with the inputs to the algorithm. From time-to-time, that internal PageRank value is exported so that it’s visible to Google Toolbar users.

3. A high PageRank is necessary to rank high in the SERPs. False.

A high PageRank alone will not help your rankings. Yes, links are important but your PageRank score is just a part of hundreds of criteria that Google uses to rank your site. Do NOT obsess over your PR and focus on the important things like building amazingly useful content. I have personally ranked very well for important key phrases from a site with a low PR.

4. PageRank is an excellent indicator of the value of your site. False.

PageRank is not the best indicator of the value of your site or how much traffic you have. PageRank simply shows how many people are linking to your site. Plus, you need to be aware that every page on your site has it’s own PageRank number attached to it.

5. PageRank tells you if a site has a lot of traffic. False.

Yes, Pagerank does give you an indication of your incoming links. It also gives you an idea of the potential traffic that your site can generate. What it does not do is tell you if you’re getting steady, reliable traffic that means anything to you and your advertisers.

I’ve heard of advertisers spending big money to be on a site just because they have a high PageRank. This is a huge mistake. Focus less on PageRank and focus more on real traffic analysis and reporting. Focus on building links from sites that actually mean something. Focus on your CONTENT!

If you’re worried about losing money because your PageRank dropped then you’re doing something wrong. You could have the highest PageRank possible but if people don’t come, bookmark, link, subscribe, buy and LOVE your HIGHLY VALUABLE content, services and products, then your obsessing about your PR has been a big waste of time.

I’ll let Matt Cutts close this one out with his wise words of advice about PageRank. This question was in regards to the exact day that the PageRank score was captured and published.

Really, I wouldn’t worry about it–I’m not even sure myself. At some point we take our internal PageRanks, put them on a 0-10 scale, and export them so that they’re visible to Google Toolbar users. If you’re splitting hairs about the exact date that backlinks were taken from, you’re probably suffering from “B.O.” (backlink obsession) and should stop and go do something else for a bit until the backlink obsession passes. I highly recommend keyword analysis, looking at server logs to figure out new content to add, thinking of new hooks to make your site attract more word-of-mouth buzz, pondering how to improve conversion once visitors land on your site, etc.

So, in summary, what you need to know about PageRank is this: The PageRank algorithm is very important because at some level it figures into how your site ranks in the Google results. (Again, we’ll talk more about this in another post) The PageRank score that you see in the Google Toolbar is not so important and you should not stress and obsess over it on a daily–or even monthly–basis. It’s outdated and it’s a very loose indication of the value of your site.

You absolutely should spend your time creating the best content that you can–and in the end my friends–the links will come and the PR will rise and all will be right with the world.

Ready to write off your PageRank score as useless? Don’t be so hasty. Read on about why PageRank can make a difference (like it or not).

photo credit: Matt Stratton