If you need to find information about something online, you can't deny the fact that you will seek the help of search engines. You don't need to know the background story of search engines, if you are just searching for something online. But it's quite a different scenario if you are a publisher or have resources to manage online.
You might be very careful on how to reach and serve the product, service or information to the targeted audience. There could be loyal readers or customers waving at you everytime and will recommend to people they know too. In addition, you have to count on search engines as they help bring you more targeted traffic and that's where you start thinking about Search Engine Optimization aka SEO for improved search engine visibility. Wouldn't you?
You might be very careful on how to reach and serve the product, service or information to the targeted audience. There could be loyal readers or customers waving at you everytime and will recommend to people they know too. In addition, you have to count on search engines as they help bring you more targeted traffic and that's where you start thinking about Search Engine Optimization aka SEO for improved search engine visibility. Wouldn't you?
The word itself reveal, it's about optimizing for search engines. Of course, you can't optimize your product or service, but information relies on your web pages ;) So it's about optimizing your web pages for search engines. Search engines are no brainers, but they are very helpful like a simple calculator. It needs instructions to be fetched. But here I'm not to talk about all the SEO tidbits, but an important topic we need to talk about - PageRank.
PageRank
I'm pretty sure most of you have heard of the term PageRank. PageRank is a link analysis algorithm use by Google to measure popularity and relevance of web pages based on different technical factors or signals. Popularity is measured as other sources start referring to you and link back to your content. But it's not popularity alone and relevance matters in ranking.
Simply you can refer to it as Google's view about the popularity and relevancy of your web pages. It's not limited to your root domain or homepage, but applies for each and every web page. Else it might have called, DomainRank or such, right? ;) Yeah, each web page has a PageRank which measures in a scale of 0 to 10, but generally we are interested in the PageRank of the root domain. Haven't check yours? Check it now.
Now you have a very basic idea about the PageRank. Here my intention is focused on discussing some details about Google PageRank including some misconceptions, but not to teach you how to calculate PageRank by yourself. You don't need to. You can have an idea about the mathematical algorithm behind PageRank from many different online sources including Wikipedia.
Let's start exploring :) I hope you will get to know more about Google PageRank as you go through.
The PageRank is determined by Google and if you explore other popular search engines such as Yahoo, Bing, your Google PageRank is not a crucial factor for them to determine importance of your web pages to rank them in their search results. The reason I wanna address it here 'cause people might fall into the misconception that PageRank is on top of all the web search engines.
Google PageRank is an algorithm based on facts and calculation is mostly an automated process by now. The popularity is determined by evaluating the backlinks aka inbound links pointing to your web pages, not by reading through your content.
You can look at a web page and find its content very helpful to you. Might be a life saver and you would recommend it to anyone and everyone. But Google doesn't take it that way. Your content won't taken into account in this algorithm. That could be wrong if did, as quality is intangible to be measured by just facts. Don't you think?
Google counts backlinks as mentions of your content across the web and measure importance. Let's think ~ If your content has been mentioned across the web on many different blogs / websites and linked back, isn't it convincing that your page has very interesting information for many others to talk about?
Google assumes, if more people link back and talking about a specific page, it has very helpful content and it will get a higher PageRank compared to other pages rarely mentioned across the web.
Could be. But it's not only about the quantity or how many referring to your web pages. There is a weight for each backlink pointing to your web pages depends on where they come from and how relevant they are.
You might have same amount of backlinks as your competitor, but if your competitor has backlinks coming from very popular websites, then they might have a higher PageRank. How about being mentioned in a popular and trusted news websites such as BBC or CNN? ;) Now again think about being mentioned in a PORN website.
Backlinks from popular sources where they have higher PageRank, will possibly help you to gain a higher PageRank.
It's a kind of rewarding for content that people find important to talk and link back. It's about earning it instead of gaining it.
But we can see people looking out for instant SEO boost and go for automated quality backlink generators, quality websites to spam with their links and working on trading links with sites that have higher PageRank, instead of generating and promoting the quality content that everyone wanna talk about. Here you can see how people can be abusive sometimes, especially when it comes to business perspectives :)
A reason why Google not depend on popularity alone but consider relevancy of backlinks which is not easier to automate.
What is your ultimate goal in SEO - Having a higher PageRank or improve the visibility of your pages on Google search?
PageRank and SERP Rank are related. But SERP is not totally based on PageRank. PageRank is only one signal that Google consider when ranking your content on Google search results. We are aware of how our content performs at search results, so just don't work only on increasing PageRank, but pay attention on other factors too. Higher PageRank doesn't ensure being on first few pages of Google search results. Not always.
When you wanna search something on Google search, would you love to see results with higher PageRank or relevant to your query? ;)
You might have been getting more than enough attention for your blog or website. But when it comes to PageRank, you may believe you don't need it at all. Absolutely, you don't wanna depend on it. But ignoring is not the best way to deal with. Be in alert about your PageRank 'cause eventhough you manage to produce quality content that most of others wanna talk about, external factors might affect on your PageRank. It would be a starting point to find possible threats online.
Simply you can refer to it as Google's view about the popularity and relevancy of your web pages. It's not limited to your root domain or homepage, but applies for each and every web page. Else it might have called, DomainRank or such, right? ;) Yeah, each web page has a PageRank which measures in a scale of 0 to 10, but generally we are interested in the PageRank of the root domain. Haven't check yours? Check it now.
Understanding PageRank
Now you have a very basic idea about the PageRank. Here my intention is focused on discussing some details about Google PageRank including some misconceptions, but not to teach you how to calculate PageRank by yourself. You don't need to. You can have an idea about the mathematical algorithm behind PageRank from many different online sources including Wikipedia.
Let's start exploring :) I hope you will get to know more about Google PageRank as you go through.
No Google, No PageRank
The PageRank is determined by Google and if you explore other popular search engines such as Yahoo, Bing, your Google PageRank is not a crucial factor for them to determine importance of your web pages to rank them in their search results. The reason I wanna address it here 'cause people might fall into the misconception that PageRank is on top of all the web search engines.
Content vs Backlinks
Google PageRank is an algorithm based on facts and calculation is mostly an automated process by now. The popularity is determined by evaluating the backlinks aka inbound links pointing to your web pages, not by reading through your content.
You can look at a web page and find its content very helpful to you. Might be a life saver and you would recommend it to anyone and everyone. But Google doesn't take it that way. Your content won't taken into account in this algorithm. That could be wrong if did, as quality is intangible to be measured by just facts. Don't you think?
Google counts backlinks as mentions of your content across the web and measure importance. Let's think ~ If your content has been mentioned across the web on many different blogs / websites and linked back, isn't it convincing that your page has very interesting information for many others to talk about?
Google assumes, if more people link back and talking about a specific page, it has very helpful content and it will get a higher PageRank compared to other pages rarely mentioned across the web.
More Backlinks, Higher PageRank?
Could be. But it's not only about the quantity or how many referring to your web pages. There is a weight for each backlink pointing to your web pages depends on where they come from and how relevant they are.
You might have same amount of backlinks as your competitor, but if your competitor has backlinks coming from very popular websites, then they might have a higher PageRank. How about being mentioned in a popular and trusted news websites such as BBC or CNN? ;) Now again think about being mentioned in a PORN website.
Backlinks from popular sources where they have higher PageRank, will possibly help you to gain a higher PageRank.
It's a kind of rewarding for content that people find important to talk and link back. It's about earning it instead of gaining it.
But we can see people looking out for instant SEO boost and go for automated quality backlink generators, quality websites to spam with their links and working on trading links with sites that have higher PageRank, instead of generating and promoting the quality content that everyone wanna talk about. Here you can see how people can be abusive sometimes, especially when it comes to business perspectives :)
A reason why Google not depend on popularity alone but consider relevancy of backlinks which is not easier to automate.
Higher PageRank = Higher Search Engine Result Page (SERP) Rank?
What is your ultimate goal in SEO - Having a higher PageRank or improve the visibility of your pages on Google search?
PageRank and SERP Rank are related. But SERP is not totally based on PageRank. PageRank is only one signal that Google consider when ranking your content on Google search results. We are aware of how our content performs at search results, so just don't work only on increasing PageRank, but pay attention on other factors too. Higher PageRank doesn't ensure being on first few pages of Google search results. Not always.
When you wanna search something on Google search, would you love to see results with higher PageRank or relevant to your query? ;)
PageRank? Not for Me
You might have been getting more than enough attention for your blog or website. But when it comes to PageRank, you may believe you don't need it at all. Absolutely, you don't wanna depend on it. But ignoring is not the best way to deal with. Be in alert about your PageRank 'cause eventhough you manage to produce quality content that most of others wanna talk about, external factors might affect on your PageRank. It would be a starting point to find possible threats online.
Obsess! Not Too Much
I'd say "You need to obsess with the PageRank" as your pages being ranked by Google, the search giant, and PageRank helps you rank better in search results. But "Don't cross the line". Don't be too much obsessed with that factor. If you are doing really well with your blog or website and find your PageRank is 0, what would you do?
Let me ask you a question ~ If your blog or website doing really fine, what if someone gives you a bad review about it just by analyzing statistics?
Would you start over or start to believe you are an epic fail? You don't need to. But you can think about what he's referring to and work on turning that bad review into an opportunity to improve.
As PageRank is Google's opinion after analyzing your backlinks, research what could be the possible causes to see a drop in your ranking or being stabilized for a long time while generating quality content. Could be low quality backlinks. Here's some few common causes for PageRank drop.
Would you start over or start to believe you are an epic fail? You don't need to. But you can think about what he's referring to and work on turning that bad review into an opportunity to improve.
As PageRank is Google's opinion after analyzing your backlinks, research what could be the possible causes to see a drop in your ranking or being stabilized for a long time while generating quality content. Could be low quality backlinks. Here's some few common causes for PageRank drop.
PageRank Updates
PageRank is not a static value. It changes over time and Google apply changes to PageRank determinants as their search algorithms get changed. So, it's not a perfect number but improving. Google calculates it continuously but let you see it 3 or 4 times a year. There's a good reason behind it. Let's hear from Matt Cutts, how PageRank updates work.
It's Done?
No, there are more details on PageRank if you are interested in. Even I didn't cover the history of PageRank and who is this Matt Cutts is. I'll let you find out ;)
You can go ahead and read some more information about PageRank at Matt Cutts' blog - More Info on PageRank. You will find some answers for common questions related to PageRank there and don't miss it.
Now I hope you have got some understanding about PageRank and how to deal with it when it comes to SEO :) See, SEO is simple enough to understand. Start exploring more if you are much interested.
Do you feel PageRank is complicate enough to understand? BTW, What is your PageRank?
I heard there was an update last week, none of my sites changed - little disappointed :( Actually some of my Pinterest pages have higher page rank than sites, and my Twitter page. What's up with that Mayura? Thanks for sharing Matt's info, not sure I saw his last video yet.
Hi Lisa,
Yeah, lately Google pushed new PageRank update but I'm stable here too :) But the thing is we can't forget about blogs and websites blooming everyday and though it seems no change for us, it's getting much more tough to reach next level dear.
When it comes to sites such as Twitter and Pinterest we get the PageRank flow Lisa :) They ranks higher and we are getting some out of it. But our blogs are independent there. If you take a blog on Empire Network or such networks, they tend to rank higher 'cause PageRank flows there. Did you notice that? :)
If I take your blog, you would see more interaction there though :) I see that. I'd say you gotta compete with yourself. Think about previous state and current, instead of comparison with others sites dear. You will get a clear view :)
Hope you enjoy Matt's video and I especially wanna add both 'cause it reveals obsessions about PageRank :)
Thanks for coming by and sharing your views on PageRank Lisa :)
Cheers...
oh Mayura great article, i am still at golden duck in page rank, means 0 page rank, hopefully i'll improve my PR. thanx for the post good content
Hi Mate,
That's where we all started :)
If you provide more value for your audience and when people start mentioning your content or blog on their sites, you will get more reputation and hence PageRank will be increased mate.
It's starts with offering quality content and will take some time too :) Keep on providing value for your readers and hope you get the idea behind it.
Thanks for coming over and contributing your thoughts here mate :)
Cheers...
Informative post yet again Mayura!
I loved going through Matt's video's - especially the one mentioning what all we need to avoid. :)
I agree with you that one shouldn't really get obsessed with PageRank, and just keep moving at your your pace making your sincere efforts. I guess with time your blog or site will show results. I am happy with my blog's progress, and nothing changed with the recent update - so all's well I guess.
I've often heard people say nowadays that more important than the PageRank, it's the MozRank that counts now (I wonder because I am not all that tech savvy!) I really have no idea about such things, but yes, they are important to some people who truly live by it and believe in it too. Do we have PageRanks for even our Twitter and other such profiles...if so, how are those affected or how do they go up or down? Or do they depend on how much time we spend on social media?
Thanks for sharing this wonderful post with all of us. :)
Hi Harleena,
I think he's much better in explaining SEO stuff and I've included 'em as he points out mistakes people don when it comes to SEO dear :)
We need it but too much of obsession is not good at all :) If we do, we might start focusing only on technical aspect than offering value for users. Obviously, it takes time Harleena. Backlinks will grow over time as we connect with other sources and get mentioned :)
MozRank is a similar ranking algorithm too dear :) It's about link popularity and relevancy comes into play too. Unlike Google PageRank, as it's not an algorithm of any search engine, so it is considered as a global value. That's why people might say that's what counts now :)
But yet Google PageRank is playing a major role as more people aware of as Google is the search giant in the industry, but you can think what if Google goes down, right?
Yeah, every web page on the web has a PageRank Harleena :) If you have mentioned your blog link on your Twitter profile, you will get some link juice from there and counted as one more backlink.
As it's all about backlinks, the time on Social Media doesn't count dear. But number of backlinks to your profile will be considered when determining PageRank for your profile.
However investing time on your blog is what really matters as it's the central hub of yours and there anyone can find your social profiles. You don't need to worry about ranking Twitter profile but your blog and its content, right? :)
Hope it helps to get an idea Harleena :) Well, let me know if it doesn't.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your views and thoughts on Google PageRank and MozRank dear :)
Cheers...
Hi Mayura,
That's an excellent expose about Google PageRank you have here.
I have to admit that I'm not a page rank expert and still see some bad content ranking high on Google. I've seen one site just a couple days ago. And that after their panda thing and all.
I am certainly not too obsessed about it. I publish valuable content and I'm creating more natural backlinks than ever, so it is what it is, and whatever it is will get better and better over time.
Thank you for this great article, Mayura :)
Hi Sylviane,
We can almost see some people trying to manipulate rankings through automate backlink generators and so on dear :) I remember the story how a duplicate post of yours on someone else's blog ranked well in Google. It happens as this is quite a technical process and content is not taken into consideration dear.
In long run, things get better and low quality sites fade away from first pages either by reviewing manually or as they reported as low quality or for copyright infringements.
But still, priority goes for backlinks when it comes to PageRank and you know, bad guys are always out there.
It's a really good strategy that you are working on natural backlinks and later on you will see how it will fruitful for your blogs Sylviane :) Be consistent there.
Thanks for coming by and contributing your thouhghts on PageRank and attitude towards it dear :)
Cheers...
HI Mayura
Great information shared!
I pay less attention to page rank because it appears to be more a magic number and nothing more than that.
You have rightly commented on Sue's post where you mentioned that reader's rank is more important and I swear by your words.
Thanks for sharing this.
Sapna
What a fabulous explanation Mayura and I just sent this to a friend who was asking me about this yesterday. I never know the ins and outs like you've explained here but can give them the gist of things so to speak.
I use to be obsessed with it in my early days but soon learned that I can only continue to do the best I can and Google keeps changing on me. I'm still at a PR3 but use to be a PR4 so go figure right!
But your explanation is why I continue to tell people not to accept every single link that points to your blog. In the long run it can hurt you more then help.
Great explanation, thank you so much.
~Adrienne
Mayura - This is a timely article after the recent google update. My DMC remains at PR3 and TechIVY went down from 2 to 1 :-(
Yes, PageRank is an interesting topic to understand and takes a lot to maintain and improve it with every update.
I need to work on it and try to improve mine, writing guest posts will provide a lot of PR benefits, and am onto it now. Let us wait and see how it turns out to be.
Very informative article. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Mayura,
That's an interesting article about Google PageRank. Great Information you shared.
To be honest, I am not obsessed with PageRank and I don't check it at all. I just received a message from one of my readers last week congratulating me for having a PR 1 and last week I didn't even know what that is until now.
I just keep doing what I do and keep moving and building organic backlinks and for sure my PR will get better over time.
Thanks Mayura for sharing this valuable information with us.
Be Blessed,
Neamat
Thanks for the info. Was just asking about this yesterday.
Regards,
Barbara
Hey Mayura
That's a really cool explanation of Google Pagerank, thank you.
I'm still a lowly PR1 at the moment and I must admit I've not checked it for quite some time. It was good to be reminded I should remember to do this every so often!
Hi Mayura ,
Thanks for sharing the information bro. You have explained it very well. But you said backilinks weightage matters and relavancy,which i use to believe before.I want to share some of the thing which i want to mention here.Its not my believed but some results.
One of my friend have blog i dont want to mention here.He is writing post on jobs jut details about jobs and he just copy it from other blogs and mold it a bit, he never worked on backlinks not a bit.He just copy and past, and the only work he does. But for my surprise he got a page rank 2 with on latest update on page rank.He never even thought of his page rank to be this.Now the interesting thing is when he applied for google adsense ,google messaged him that his articles are auto generated and low quality.
So on one side it has got page rank 2 which basically defines the value of site on many basis and on the other side google is telling that articles are low quality.
I think google is a automated machine ,its not any brain who can check how valuable the site is.Thats what i think , it cant be accurate but yes it can give a approx..
Thank You
Shorya Bist
From Youthofest
Hi Sapna,
Ha ha... Kinda magic number as we don't know how exactly it determines and what changes will be applied often dear. Well, it's a problem of Google and we just need to aware of how we can make use of it. Well, keep it touch with yours as you can assess your progress dear :)
Oops... You have seen it? ;) I think that's what we need the most apart from all the numbers dear. It depends on how we define why we do blogging. But yet with no audience and trust of 'em, we still be where we were.
Thanks for coming by and adding your views on PageRank Sapna :)
Cheers...
Hi Adrienne,
I think she's already here and left a comment too ;) Glad to hear that the information here would helping someone to get rid of confusions dear. Now you know what you need to think about ;)
I can see obsessions around us and that's something prevent people from making most out of blogging, isn't it Adrienne? :) They could have much more success if they focus on what matters most.
Oops... PageRank changes like a magic sometimes but it's about how backlinks work on you dear. As it says, if you are doing really good with your blog, you don't need to run after something else.
Very true :) The links can 'cause the harm and even we have a way to get rid of it, accepting spammy links in first place can waste more of our time. So always need to be watchful and keep it out of troubles dear.
Thanks for coming over and contributing your thoughts and experience on PageRank Adrienne :)
Cheers...
Hi Praveen,
Well, to be honest I can't think of managing two or more blogs at the same time mate :) It's takes lot of time and effort.
Mine is PR3 right now too and you might need to take a look at your backlinks for your TechIVY if you believe it was doing better than before mate. Could be low quality backlinks and you can ask Google to get rid of 'em. Or else simply it's lack of quality backlinks :)
Writing guest posts is an opportunity to build profitable backlinks and it takes time mate :)
Think about using TechIvy URL for website field in commenting, especially when you comment on tech blogs and using on social your profiles too. You can explore more techniques on the web :)
Thanks for coming by and sharing your thoughts on PageRank and standings Praveen :)
Cheers...
Hi Neamat,
I think you don't need to be too dear, but being aware of it helps to track what we need to work on to get attention of searchers on Google search :) Search engines play a vital role nowadays and as they are technical tools, we just need to follow guidelines to help 'em.
I think you need to grateful to your reader for pointing it out Neamat :) Now as you can know what's yours, you can monitor the progress while you build natural backlinks over time dear :)
It will take time and progress slowly, but keep your attitude still and grow with it dear :) Yours will get better over time for sure.
Thanks for coming by and sharing your thoughts about PageRank including your standing dear :)
Cheers...
Hi Barbara,
I think it's you that Adrienne mentioned in her comment :) I hope you could get an idea about PageRank and what to focus on mostly dear.
Thanks for coming by and commenting here :)
Cheers...
Hey Tim,
There are folks who stuck with no PageRank mate :) Even not reached 0. So you are getting there and it will take time for sure.
Commenting on relevant blogs help you get some quality backlinks and on top of all, writing topics that everyone would like to talk about will bring more link juice for you.
Be consistent and think about accepting links at your blog too mate :) Yeah, keep track of your PageRank to see how yours progress over time. You will get there.
Thanks for coming by, and adding your thoughts on this topic and sharing your current standing Tim :)
Cheers...
Hi Shorya,
You are pointing a very good real-life example why Google keeps human raters along with the algorithm and why they apply frequent changes :) Also it depicts about the reliability of such a rank.
It all goes in discussion and even I've found that blogs who published my content without any permission has higher PageRank. I just had to report 'em 'cause they are having my content and then Google taken action :) Else they are still out there.
We can't trust on automated processes and also why we need not to be obsessed with it too much checking PageRank everytime mate :) The relevancy is quite hard to determine, but priority goes for the source as how much they can trust it.
For example if CNN links to this post, Google determines it must be relevant as they don't link without a reason, than if a friend of mine with a lower PageRank link to this post for same reason. It's kinda voting and votes coming from higher PageRank pages has more value :) But practically you can see how hard it's to determine and distinguish.
It's not fair enough as it outranks low quality and duplicate content instead of qualitative content. That's why still people asks why his blog ranks better while mine is nowhere near. So when someone reports it to Google or got a clue, they review it manually and change the rank where necessary. Also that's why PageRank gets updates all the time and usually 500 changes to the algorithm each year.
As the web grows, I don't think Google will come out with a perfect algorithm but one that can be rely on for some extent.
You don't really need to comment on other blogs to generate backlinks for your blog but there are websites to generate 1000s of free backlinks just by clicking on a button :) Still we can use them as far as they don't hurt our reputation, but if things go wrong it kills the reputation we already had. You can Google for FREE quality backlinks to see what are they.
I know, still we will left behind with the confusion as we can see low quality content benefit with numbers and that's where we need to work on other aspects as we can't totally rely on a number that's not perfect enough :)
If Google was not the search giant, I think folks wouldn't worry about PageRank at all :) But would worry about what matters for the search giant there. We gotta build the authority, not PageRank mate :)
Thanks for coming by and adding much value here through your real-life example mate :) That will really help folks here to open their eyes and look what matters most. I wish if I had such a story to include when I writing this post :)
Cheers...
This is actually the first time I've heard about this tool so thanks for explaining Google PageRank ,Mayura! I just checked mine and well it's low :) so that tells me I've got so do some more analyzing and figure out the root cause of this and how to get that number higher, without stressing over it of course :)
I'm definitely going to read Matt's blog this evening :) Hope you're having a great week! Thanks for taking time to explain it!
Hi Corina,
I thought you might have heard it already. Now I'm glad you are aware of it dear :)
Obviously you don't wanna get obsessed with it but it will give some clues where you need to improve. Actually I needed to convey the message how we should embrace the PageRank and be search engine friendly as I can see people with lower PageRank is running after that :)
You can read Shorya's reply above how he finds PageRank is not reliable in some occasions.
I hope you will find some more common questions that people asks about PageRank at Matt's blog post :)
Thanks for coming over and sharing your views on this topic dear :)
You have a great week too Corina :)
Cheers...
Hello Mayura,
Great information here. I'm still learning about all of this and your post really helped. I tend to focus on the writing, creating, and community build aspects instead of all the SEO and pagerank.
Hi Mayura
What a great explanation. Thank you as this is the first time I have ever really understood it. I must confess I have not paid any attention to it at all. I did not even get the distinction between page rank not being domain rank - you do well at driving a point, Thanks
When I first started blogging I used to allow all sorts of comments from people who I am sure did not exist. I have been cleaning that up.
Thanks again for a very good explanation.
Sue
Great information u shared as usual, PR shows the valuability of your site in google point of view.Its a big deal for me how to improve my PR.
Hey Dan,
That's a very good attitude mate :) I don't think you don't wanna obsess with PageRank and how to grow it like a pro.
But don't ignore at all, as you can find more information about your blog and how search engine friendly it is as you research about your SEO effectiveness. It takes some time and keep creating backlinks through commenting and so on. I think you already do :)
Thanks for coming over and sharing your views on PageRank mate :)
Cheers...
Hi Sue,
Cool... Glad to hear you got the idea behind PageRank dear :)
Sometimes I feel it's better not to know about such stuff as people tend to obsess with it and start to focus on easy do ways :D Well, It's always better to know what's really behind it and how to make use of 'em well.
Yeah dear :) You need to aware of whom commenting on your blog as some folks are really good at spamming. I mean really good :) It's our responsibility to secure our blogs.
Thanks for coming by and contributing your thoughts on this topic Sue :)
Cheers...
Hi Rupali,
Exactly, it's Google's opinion dear :) You can hear what Matt Cutts say about it in videos too. But the value is determined by mentions or backlinks pointing to the pages, not evaluating content.
You can refer to Shorya's comment how unfair it could be sometimes :) So need not to be obsess too much. Work on quality content and interact on blogs through commenting too :)
Thanks for coming by and sharing your thoughts on PageRank Rupali :)
Cheers...
Hi Mayura,
What a fabulous explanation of PageRank. I used to obsess over mine and never really saw it go up. I forgot about it and now after you told us to check, I found that I'm a PR1. Better than 0, right? haha.
I'd rather focus on providing helpful, interesting content than obsess over PageRank. I do want to get more traffic to my website though so I guess I need to find a happy medium and start focusing more on my on and offpage SEO a bit more to get those targeted readers.
I think I'll read your post again when I get home later so I can absorb more of it. It really was great information!
Thanks for another awesome post!
Jess
Hi Mayura,
This is a really good explanation of a very complex topic - I'm particularly grateful to your for differentiating between Page Rank and SERP Rank. I hadn't realized that PR was purely about links - that's interesting and useful to know.
Your advice to keep an eye on your PR but not to get obsessed about it is good. Like Sue Price, I think I've been caught by some very clever spammers who look like genuine commenters - I'm going to be much more rigorous about rejecting any comments that look even vaguely suspicious in future.
Thanks for a very helpful post, Mayura - the Matt Cutts videos are excellent,
Sue
Hi Jess,
Ha ha... Yeah dear :) Though is starts with 0, there are some sites that even have no PageRank at all. It denotes as N/A on checker. So you are ahead ;)
I think that's the idea we need to focus on Jess :) As you write interesting content, they will get attention and people start to mention your links on theirs. You will get more reputation, naturally. Of course, focusing on SEO makes it more search engine friendly and you just need to aware of crossing the line. No point of just focusing on SEO :)
Owkies dear :) I hope you will read Matt Cutts' blog post on it as it gives more information too and application of good strategies will give you increase in PageRank.
Thanks for coming by and contributing your thoughts and views on PageRank Jess :)
Cheers...
Hi Sue,
It's kinda complex to write too dear ;) You know, need to address different aspects as it's not very stable technique either. You can read Shorya's comment to see how it can be unfair sometimes. It happens :)
One thing people fall into that increase of PageRank is increase of SERP Sue :) SERP is what we really need to think about and PageRank is just a signal to contribute there. I'm glad t hear you were able to figure out it easily :) SEO is simple, no? ;)
Mostly I've seen while some bloggers obsessed with it, some others say don't pay attention at all. I don't think PageRank concept will evolve unless it has no use at all. We need to use it and focus with the limits Sue.
Spammers are kinda backlink seekers :D Sometimes they seems like very genuine, but you can check what's their link about dear. Instead of removing the whole comment, you can moderate and remove the link if it's directing to spammy or very low-quality website. Keep eye on it, 'cause it's your blog gonna suffer else ;)
Thanks for coming over and sharing your thoughts on PageRank and this post Sue :)
Cheers...
I recently wrote a post about not worry about pagerank too much because it's NOT where the money is. Even though having a PR3 blog is a great ego booster it is not the determined factor when it comes to making the dough.
thanks
Akos Fintor
Hi Mayura; I've heard of Pagerank, but, never really gave it a second thought, until now. I checked and my rank is 3. Pretty good, yes? Just for fun, I added the button to my site. Gives it an air of credibility, don't you think? :-D Thanks for the great education, as always.
Hey Mayura
I always got confused about Page Rank and SERP, but now I know the difference. I checked out my page rank and it said 3. But does that bother me - no. I am careful with backlinks because there are many people who come to my blog that I just cannot approve, or I just remove their comment Luv. But, is that enough? I'm not sure about that because when I click their name, it sometimes goes to a sales site. Hmmm that confuses me.
I have many trusted readers and many I do not approve because their back links are "bad neighborhood sites" porn of course, sales pages, MLM companies, etc.
Once again, thanks for the information and this helped me be more aware of my SEO and my back links.
Donna
Hi Debbie,
Cool :) PageRank 3 means you are progressing according to Google and always need to keep in mind to provide value for your community and anyone who stop by dear. I can see you are doing it at your place and key is to keep the consistency.
Of course it gives an credibility and sometimes it attracts more spammers too ;) Beware of whom you gonna approve comments of and always don't let them come in.
Thanks for coming by and sharing your thoughts and current standing Debbie :)
Cheers...
Hey Donna,
Wonderful :) We need to differentiate PR and SERP, though they sounds like very technical. You can see folks always talking about PR but not SERP much, so I thought it would better to point out the difference here Donna. Glad it helps you to be aware of those SEO factors dear :)
PR 3 is a good standing, of course, according to Google's point of view ;) But you got the right attitude that it's not what determines your blogging experience dear. When Google is not there, where we will be? :)
That's a very good question Donna :) I've just visit your blog again, and check out the links. You don't have to worry 'cause they are attributed as "nofollow" which means search engines don't count 'em at all + it doesn't hurt your blog's reputation.
However if the person is a regular visitor, it's better you let them know why you keep moderating their links :) May be they will understand.
Thanks for coming over, and contributing your thoughts on backlinks and sharing your current standing Donna :)
Cheers...
Thanks. Akismet does a pretty good job catching spammers, at least so far, although it got fooled a few times and so did I. Happened on a couple of old posts and I think that is a warning bell, so I changed the settings for that.
Hi Mayura,
Now I know what are the PageRank and SERP. :) After reading your post I was able to understand how it works too! And I checked my page rank and it is 1! :) Thanks for the great info as always!
We love our blogs, no? :) I'm using Akismet here too dear. It does a pretty good job but we gotta keep our eyes on as we can't depend on tools all the time. You know how to take care of 'em as I haven't seen spammy comments at your place :)
Just be watchful like a puppy ;) I do.
Cheers...
Hi Chathu,
Glad to hear it has been helpful to understand the difference between the terms dear :) Well, go on and check out more resources if you are interested in as they are very helpful for bloggers.
PR 1 is alright and you don't wanna worry or obsess after all though :) Just see how it progresses and keep engaging with folks and focus on creating valuable + genuine content.
Thanks for coming over and sharing your thoughts and current standing Chathu :)
Cheers...
Agree with you guys. we should keep an eye but not just get disheartened if we don't get a good PR. PR is not everything. Traffic and readership matters more. The video is great. Mattcutts' videos are my favorite. I do watch atleast 2-3 videos of him in a week.
Absolutely Atish :) We can see folks running after PR and end up like a desert rose. We need to watch the progress.
Traffic and Readership ~ These are factors we need to concentrate more as you implied :)
Matt Cutts is very simple when it comes to explanations and many loves that Google guy :) I've been watching his videos since I get to know about SEO too mate.
Thanks for coming by and sharing your thoughts in response to the conversation here Atish :)
Cheers...
Hi Mayura,
I've seen you in some of my friends' blogs, you seemed to be very popular all over the place and so I thought I'd paid you a visit. Well, I've learned something new. I don't know anything about PageRank or SERP. Thanks for educating me. However, I am more concentrating on quality content and quality traffic.
The first time I started blogging I was worried about getting into number #1 on top of Google Search, but my perception on this changed all that after reading a few professional bloggers how they became successful blogging here online.
I'm a new blogger, been blogging only last Halloween 2012. So guess, I have a lot to catch up and I have a lot to learn.
~Angela
Hi Mayura, Excellent explanation of the difference between Page Rank and SERP. You are so right. Earlier this year, Google bumped me up from PR 3 to PR 4. But at the same time they started sending less traffic to me. Go figure.
Would I prefer to have a lower Page Rank and more traffic? Sure. But can't I have both?
Yes, I want it all, Lol!
Hi mayura,
I greatly appreciate the information in this post.
I'll have to give Adrienne another Like or two..she always finds the best!
My site was recently invaded by about 5 bots or scripts that I found when I was checking my referral stats. The urls were all numbers but they had go/go php on most of them...if you clicked never went to a site like a normal link from a site where I had commented or someone mentioned a post. The just kept repeating!!!
I'm not very techie so Host Gator banned the urls for me..support said either a bot or a script....all numbers with those go/go on the end. I did a few domain searches but most couldn't be checked.
One small one went to a wp-admin type log in called softpop ads, which I searched on Google and it turns out to be a spammy backlink program from 2009.
If put the numbers in whois all hidden.or redirected so much they would not load...
Maybe Google could find them!
I have never bought links or used any kind of paid link service....A Pain!
Thanks again for the information, will have to come back and read some more!
Hi Mayura - so if you ultimately want to have the highest page rank for your root domain, don't you need people to be linking to that domain? In other words, if my blog resides on my website, but ultimately, I want the highest rank for my www.marketingwise.ca URL, will it help my PR for my root domain if people link to my blog? Hope my question makes sense - very helpful post!
Hi Carolyn,
We gotta aware of the difference between PageRank and SERP :) As we comment on other blogs, usually that's where we get more backlinks.
You don't use Google to search stuff originated from sites with higher PageRank, but relevant content, no? So while working on PageRank, SERP is what matters most dear.
lol :D You can have a lower PageRank and more traffic. Also higher PageRank and more traffic too Carolyn. As you don't stop commenting on other blogs, backlinks will grow over time and other mentions will add some points there to maintain or improve your rank.
You can try engaging more and using other natural traffic generation methodologies such as submitting to online directories too :) Sometimes we need a change in strategies.
Thanks for coming over, and contributing your thoughts and sharing current ranking Carolyn :)
Cheers...
Hi Artagene,
Warmly welcome you to my online home and I'm really glad to hear you have enjoyed the information here :)
Ah... So you have came through Adrienne's blog :) I couldn't check out her post yet as I was away from home last couple of days. I'm grateful indeed to her.
The most common reason is having an approved spammy comment/s on your blog. Spammers are very ingenious and they don't need to leave a link with their comment either, unless they are looking for backlinks or traffic.
Mmm... Be careful when approving comments dear :) Sometimes we never spot some of 'em, but as you did, checking on referral traffic is a great way to find 'em. But for security concerns, it's best not to click on links that are suspicious. Instead try Google.
Ah... I can see how careful you are to go through Google and WhoIs to find who they are :) Very good practice.
Yeah, Buying links can be a real pain Artagene :) Glad you didn't and you can count on natural backlinks to improve your PageRank. Writing content that others wanna talk about would be a better plan, no?
Thanks for coming by, and adding more value here via your thoughts and experiences Artagene :)
Cheers...
Hi Ruth,
Glad to hear it has been helpful to you :)
Very good question there. As your blog is on a subdirectory (www.marketingwise.ca/posts), Google treats it as a part of your main website. So linking to your blog flows PageRank to your main website too.
However when you create natural backlinks to your website such as through quality commenting on other blogs, it's better to use website URL instead of blog URL if you need more attention to your website and if anyone can easily find your blog after stopping by on your website :)
It's not a big deal, but in case you need to change the subdirectory of yours (/posts) in to something else (/blog), there will be a disadvantage.
Hope it answers your question :)
Cheers...