PageRank and How It Gets Assigned

We know that each and every website page is assigned a Google Page rank, based upon a mathematical algorithm. Pages rank on a scale of 0 (zero) the lowest, and 10 (ten) the highest. Linking between websites both internally and externally pass a value or Page Rank.

If site A links to site B, a percentage of Site A's Page Rank is passed or credited to site B. Nothing is lost from site A in terms of Page Rank unless the link is to a banned area, or bad neighborhood.

The amount of Page Rank Site A passes is determined by the amount of Outbound links of site A's page. The more Outbound links, the smaller percentage of Page Rank is passed. Pages with large amounts of outgoing links pass very little Page Rank and in some cases may cause more harm than good. Try to avoid linking to pages that have large amount of outgoing links, Like Link Farms etc.

A real life true example. Site A had a Page Rank of 4, there were only 2 outbound links on Site A. One of those outbound Links was to brand new Site B. Brand new Site B had 3 out going links, and NO other Incoming Links, besides the one from Site A. Google awarded Site B a new Page Rank of 4.

From this real life example, we see that the fewer outbound links per page, the more Page Rank is passed.

If Site A in the example above had a large number of outbound links on the page, then a smaller percentage of Page Rank would have been passed and New Site B would have received a lower rank then the equal rank that was passed.

Higher Page rank sites linking to your site to pass PR is consider valuable, but normally the higher Page Rank sites have a tremendous amount of existing outbound links so the true Page Rank Passes is normally minimal. It is also hard at times to get a quality higher Page Rank page to link to your site. Lower Page Rank sites are very important in Passing Page Ranks and link exchanges. Their Page Rank usually grows with age and has more inbound links than outbound links, creating a higher Page Rank, which in turn passes to your site via it's outbound link.

In general terms, an individual page's Page Rank is determined by the amount of links going out of that page (outbound) and the amount of links coming to that page (Inbound). A general rule of thumb: you want to have more inbound links than outbound links.

Definite things to avoid.

When doing reciprocal linking, make sure you check the amount of outbound links that not only the page has but the overall site as well. Search engines such as Google doesn't like Link Farms ( 1000's of links on the site), gambling sites and pornography. Unless that is your business, don't link to any of those types of sites.

You can lose Page Rank and Search Engine Results by Linking to sites that are considered Banned, or Bad Neighborhoods. Be aware and check before linking. Even if you aren't "punished", you will gain no benefit and the PR leached away from your site is not worth it.

Be aware to whom your site is linking to via outbound links. Periodically check your outbound links making sure that they are:

1) Still an active website

2) Still a resource for the reason you linked to them in the first place

3) They have not changed theme formats and are still a quality site.

Page Rank grows over time. Google updates visible Page Rank infrequently, like every 4-8 months or so. The best SEO strategy is to link to and link exchange with like themed sites or quality sites.

Article by Ed Charkow - Ed is the webmaster at http://www.seoengine.info and http://www.nichesitespecial.com . Reprint rights are granted with live hyperlinks and resource box intact.

---

What is Your Sales Message?

So you built a website, you have a product, but... Read More

The 7 Points of Do-It-Yourself SEO

Ever felt intimidated at the convoluted, jargon-ridden information about Internet... Read More

Google Sitemaps: 7 Benefits You Cant Ignore

Google Sitemaps enables Webmasters to Directly Alert Google to Changes... Read More

Google vs. Yahoo -- How To Rank High On Each One

Google likes incoming links, especially links from high-ranking, on-topic pages... Read More

Google, BackRub, Backlinking, and the Link Hunting Obsession that Takes Its Toll

Google is currently one of the dominant entities on the... Read More

20 Ideas for Creating Traffic Rich, Search Engine Friendly Pages

Sometimes questions will arise around the subject of gateway information... Read More

Spamglish; A Search Engine Comedy With A Language All Its Own

When the movie Spanglish hit the screens in 2004, it... Read More

Companies Cash In on Your Search Engine Ignorance

This article will cause many companies to stir, but it's... Read More

Good Content: The Key To Search Engine Ranking

Good Content: The Key To Search Engine RankingWhat drives visitors... Read More

Link Popularity

In today scenario when we talk about Search Engine Optimization,... Read More

The Search Engine Optimization Game Is Getting Tricky

For more than 4 years now I have been modifying... Read More

How To Make Your Website More Successful? (Part II)

In part I of our series of how to make... Read More

SEO Expert Guide - Ongoing Monitoring of Results (part 9/10)

In the Guide, you have, so far, learnt how to... Read More

Keywords: The First Step To Recognition

Open Wordtracker [ http://www.wordtracker.com/ ] and you'll see... Read More

Search Engine Optimization - Free Tips and Help - Part One - The Title Tag

Search Engine Optimization is a widely misunderstood industry. Many webmasters,... Read More

Search Engines: Tips and Strategies on Getting Listed and Ranking High for Newbies

You've got a website. You've put countless hours into it,... Read More

Fixed Point of Reference

According to author Frank Peretti, "A fixed point of reference... Read More

7 Essential SEO techniques

1) Title Tag ? When we're talking about SEO Technique,... Read More

How to Use the Google Patent to Get More Traffic

According to the recent release of the Google Patent Application,... Read More

Search Engine Essentials

What are Search Engines?There are numerous different search engines, and... Read More

How You Can Easily Compile A Gigantic Keyword List

It doesn't matter what kind of marketing you are involved... Read More

Easy Steps to Get Onto Google Top Search Pages

To get on Google's top pages can be accomplished by... Read More

Meta Tags - An Important Part of Every Web Page

Meta tags are an absolute must from a search engine... Read More

How to Choose Keywords to Theme Your Pages and Boost Your Traffic

One of the most frequent questions I get asked is... Read More

6 Ways To Attract Search Engines To Your Website More Often

Adding fresh, updated content to your website is the surest... Read More

Optimize your Search Engine Placement Five Easy Ways

If you are like me, you created web site metatags... Read More

Common Sense Approach to Search Engine Optimization

Most web surfers start their sessions at a search engine... Read More

Is a High Search Engine Ranking Important for YOU?

In the process of designing a website for clients the... Read More

Search Wars! - MSNs Opening Salvo

With all the recent publicity given to Google as the... Read More

How To Boost Your Keyword Density On Your Web Site To Gain Top Positions At The Search Engines

Let's talk about what keyword density is and how to... Read More

Submit Your Website to Search Engines

Some search engine submissions are free and some pay for... Read More

Getting Listed in the ODP, Google Directory

First of all, the Google directory is really just the... Read More

Search Engine Optimization :: The Basics and Why Websites Need It

We all know that the most targeted traffic we can... Read More