Do You Understand Google PageRank?

Most site owners do not. They think it is an “opinion” that someone at Google arbitrarily comes up with. Many times the site owner thinking their site is much better than what Google’s PageRank indicates.

PageRank is not about “thinking” a site is good or not. It is about the numbers and the data. The data that Google has reflecting the quality of the links to your site that are apropos to your site’s topic and target market.

Google’s PageRank is something that some folks live and die for. Personally, I use Page Rank as a guide; an indication of the quality of a site in general — but not the end-all-be-all. As Google explains:

PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves “important” weigh more heavily and help to make other pages “important.”

For the all the details, you can review Google’s explanations about how PageRank works by searching the Official Google Webmaster Blog.

Only by understanding (not assuming) how PageRank works can you use that information to your advantage and work towards increasing your visibility on Google.

At your service,
Judith

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2 Responses to “Do You Understand Google PageRank?”

1. Stephen Pitts says:

   July 15, 2008 at 10:54 am

   Judith,

   Great point. Most website owners and even marketers mis-interpret what the little green bar. The most valuable lesson is that PageRank does not equal ranking and certainly not traffic, which are the main drivers to ROI.

   I will always prefer a #1 rank without PageRank to a high PageRank and no visibility in the search engine results page.
2. Judith says:

   July 15, 2008 at 12:08 pm

   Hey, Stephen!

   Thanks for stopping by! For me PageRank is for giggles. While it is an indicator of sorts — basically that Google knows you’re alive, I don’t put much more weight than that!

   You are so right too about traffic — so many hang their hat on the green bar and never even interrogate their site stats!

   At your service,
   Judith