Lots of research has focused on inbound links to a site, but little has focused on the number of links actually on a page (outbound or to other parts of a site). Many SEO gurus have recently been talking about something they call "PR Leak" which seems to be a theory that the more outbound links you have, the more your page rank on Google "leaks" away. That concept isn't found in the academic papers published by the founders of Google, but does seem to be accepted by a majority of SEOs. I decided it was time to take a look at the number of links present on a page and how that number correlates with ranking.
The methodology: I gathered the results of the queries that were naturally performed last month by myself and three associates using the two leading search engines and analyzed them. I counted the number of links on the page (references to "href") and tabulated the results against the ranking of the URL in the search results. The tabulated results were finally converted into a normalized "ranking correlation." The results for each of the two leading search engines were kept separate so that we could discover any differences between the two leading search engines for this factor.
The resulting graphs show the results for groupings of number of links normalized into a number between -100 and +100 showing the likelihood of being ranked higher/lower. A value of +100 shows that all 10 rankings were in the proper order to show that pages of the studied value ALWAYS rank HIGHER than pages of another value. A value of -100 shows that all 10 rankings were in the proper order to show that pages of the studied value ALWAYS rank LOWER than pages of another value. Numbers in between show the varying likelihood of rankings proportionally between -100 and +100.
That is the number you see on the Y-axis. On the X-axis, we have the number of links found. They are grouped into sets of 10 in order to increase the statistical significance with the amount of data we had available to analyze. Here are the graphs for the two leading search engines:
http://www.SearchEngineGeek.com/graphs/dey01.gif
http://www.SearchEngineGeek.com/graphs/deg01.gif
(Note to webmasters: Feel free to hot link to the above graphs or copy them to your own site if you publish this report. Feel free to remove this note as well.)
The number of links were grouped in this way in order to increase the number of data points available. Unfortunately it also reduces the precision of the results. One is able to see that 91-100 links rank much higher than 1-10 links, but you are unable to see if 77 links rank differently than 79 links (for example).
The result is very conclusive. Both leading search engines rank pages with more links much higher than pages with fewer links! Once again, it appears that the SEOs touting the "PR Leak" theory are simply wrong. If their theory held any weight at all, we should see the exact opposite. Pages with more links should rank lower on average.
Notes:
1. There was no exercise to attempt to isolate different keywords. I merely took a random sampling of the queries performed by myself and three associates during the month.
2. This is merely a correlation study, so it cannot be determined from this study whether the leading search engines purposefully entertain this factor or not. The actual factors used may be far distant from the factor we studied.
Copyright 2004 Jon Ricerca
About The Author
Jon Ricerca is one of the leading researchers and authors of the Search Engine Ranking Factor (SERF) reports at SearchEngineGeek.com. For access to the other SERF reports, please visit: http://www.SearchEngineGeek.com
Internal Linking ? An introductionThe web as they call it... Read More
At the beginning of the web era, users would go... Read More
Getting top search engine listing is perhaps one of the... Read More
Google is quickly changing...With the big buzz of Novembers fall... Read More
This article is actually the summary to a book soon... Read More
If you are a webmaster and you review your logs,... Read More
Since search engines are the first stop for people on... Read More
Increase Your Google Page Rank!Page Rank. We all know what... Read More
Search engine optimization is a very critical task in the... Read More
Thanks to a unique algorithm that produces most relevant results... Read More
The first task most netizens do when they log on... Read More
The first step to developing any search engine optimization effort... Read More
Maggie knows how to find what she wants. She lets... Read More
With search engine algorithms changing seemingly daily, the quest to... Read More
The Budget Webmaster's 6 Step Guide to Improving Existing Rankings... Read More
Having a Google Sitemap just got better! Not only does... Read More
Web marketers, do you hear what I hear?"Click-click BOOM"That's the... Read More
At One Time Local Searches were reserved for services like... Read More
There's no denying it: Search engines are a dominating force... Read More
If you want to increase traffic to your website and... Read More
Getting your site noticed by the search engines and rewarded... Read More
After 105 days Google finally updated PR. And it's about... Read More
The attraction of Pay Per Click (PPC) online advertising is... Read More
Search engines are frugal things. (Froogle, too, haha! Sorry, lame... Read More
With apologies for the cheap trick of mentioning Paris Hilton... Read More
With 40 million websites in existence, and more than 3... Read More
Lots of research has focused on inbound links to a... Read More
The chase for a high web ranking is constantly on... Read More
In the Guide, you have, so far, learnt how to... Read More
The Site Map is a too often overlooked piece of... Read More
Reciprocal linking scams have increased immensely during the past year.... Read More
Internet Directories and their ImportanceThere are two very pertinent reason... Read More
There are methods to increase your search engine rankings which... Read More
Web marketers, do you hear what I hear?"Click-click BOOM"That's the... Read More
Anybody who has their own website or is involved in... Read More
What are Topical Search Engines?Simply put, topical search engines are... Read More
As you have seen throughout the guide, search engine optimization... Read More
Links are a crucial part of attaining high search rankings,... Read More
Before anyone can start optimizing a web site, you must... Read More
In recent times, I have been closely studying keywords that... Read More
In the Guide, you have, so far, learnt how to... Read More
The sandbox effect or (site getting banned on google) has... Read More
Don't share this with people of a nervous disposition because... Read More
Have you ever seen any email offers of getting you... Read More
There's no denying it: Search engines are a dominating force... Read More
It seems I now do this rant every single year... Read More
The first task most netizens do when they log on... Read More
Google is currently one of the dominant entities on the... Read More
If you are confused about terms like "search engine optimization"... Read More
Most Internet marketing methods are risky and many will not... Read More
So you built a website, you have a product, but... Read More
Getting Honest With The Search EnginesI spend a lot of... Read More
Part 2 Tips 4 tagsMeta tags are the descriptive tags... Read More
In a fluke, I was able to notice something about... Read More
Want to know the secret to great search engine listings?... Read More
There has been a good deal written about the Google... Read More
In Google's recent battle towards becoming an international news center,... Read More
When, shopping for a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) company/specialist you... Read More
Do you realize that if you manage your website, SEO... Read More
Use text links, avoid image links. Anyhow, if you... Read More
The latest news to hit the Internet's 'water cooler' is... Read More
I just read an article at SitePro News that really... Read More
If you are one to pay attention to what happens... Read More
If you're anything like me, you have a favourite search... Read More
It is a well known fact that writing, distributing and... Read More
Part I of this article discussed some of the points... Read More
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) |