Links are the currency of the web. It is through links that we find new sites, recommend sites to others, and is what makes the Internet what it is. Without links, what would the web be? A very big digital book, and that wouldn’t be nearly as much fun, would it.
Google has stated that a link to a site is very much like a vote for that site. If I link to a web site from here, that counts as a vote “of approval” for the site I’m linking to. This site happens to have a page rank of PR3 (yup, lost a point somewhere along the way), so that means that my site lends a bit of credibility over those with PR2 on down. As well, those sites with a higher PR are also positively impacted by my PR3 link too, I just don’t believe the value is as great to those with higher PR values as it would be to those with lower PR values. It just adds more weight, but perhaps (maybe?) not as much as a high PR site linking to a lower PR site.
Also, there is such a thing as a link that points to what Google has determined to be a “bad neighborhood” having a negative impact on your overall PR value. So it makes sense to be careful who and where you link to.
At some point Google will tally’s those votes and eventually you’ll find that you have either increased or decreased in page rank. I’ve seen PR changes every 3 months or 6 months…seems to vary a little, and rightfully so, Google has a few sites in their index after all.
There might be other elements that go into how Google determines what page rank any given site should be, but I’d put money on links being the number one and most crucial element in that calculation.
Image © Creative images – Fotolia.com
Wayne John is a health coach for people that want to lose weight, gain weight, improve athletic performance, or simply maintain a healthy lifestyle. Wayne has lost over 55 pounds and improves his current health every day by using simple, straight-forward techniques that anyone can integrate into their lives to achieve the same. Contact Wayne today to realize your own health and fitness goals, or get started now by completing and submitting the free Wellness Profile. He also has been developing websites since 1995 and programming solutions for clients even longer. He'd rather be outside having fun in the sun though.
Start a discussion, or join in one
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I encourage people to speak their mind, so please feel free to leave a comment using the comment input form found below.
I know of a blog that had a PR6 ranking, they ran a few contest on their blog to promote link building, the next time Google rolled around with PR updates they got bumped down to PR3.
Now the same site is around 50K from #1 spot on the net, they didn’t do to bad, they did manage to get the Google SERP to return SiteLinks, which I would love to have on any SERP I have!
Also with all the backlinks they got from their contest, I’m thinking down the road that PR will bounce back.
Twitter: waynejohn
I’m still wondering exactly how much I should care about PR…
Did you purposely not leave a link? lol
(Did you purposely not leave a link? lol)
Ha! you caught me.
Yea, my highest PR is PR2 (don’t laugh) XP, no big deal as long as traffic finds me. I’ve been getting about 600 extra page hits the last couple of weeks on one of my blogs.
.-= Switcher´s last blog ..Blogger – Jobs =-.
BTW, check out my last blog post.
You ever try Simply Hired for Publishers?
Twitter: waynejohn
Nice job with that post, bravo! heh heh
I wouldn’t sweat the PR stuff too much. Higher PR’s do mean something, but when it comes down to it, being PR2 or 3 is just as cool.
Of course, I’m down in it too…lol
.-= Wayne´s last blog ..The value of a link =-.
Twitter: GritFX
Well… my corporate site has a PR5… and rarely has traffic! So what does that say about the whole system?
I’ve also been pondering whether the content of the site that is linking to you, has an impact on your own PR. For example, as a tee company I’ve been canvassing the net for t-shirt related sites (review, etc). My thinking is if I can get a couple to link to us, that would be more valuable than other type of links to our site. Sound reasoning… or not!?
.-= Manz´s last blog ..Billy and the Pleiadians =-.
Twitter: johnjmcdonald
I say, just the traffic and/or revenue matters! I had a blog go from PR 5 down to 3, but the location in and traffic from Google continued to rise. It definitely seems to help if you’ve got the right anchor text coming from a thematically related page – and it may even help when the links are in the main content sections rather than as headers or in the sidebar/footer/or possibly even comments. So, PR is one of many factors that counts the potential value of a link or the placement of a URL in the search results, but it doesn’t do much on its own.
.-= John´s last blog ..Dreamhost Coupon and Promo Codes =-.
Your right links are key in SEO
I agree with you. Links like a vote system. More links you have it mean more vote for your website.
.-= Kirstin´s last blog ..Villa Senang / 3 Bedroom Deluxe =-.
Smart marketers don’t give a damn about the PR of a website/link. They know how to judge the value of a link and PR has nothing to do with that
I certainly agree wholeheartedly about links being how Google page ranks you, I have found this out first hand.