Google Pagerank: What is it exactly?

If you have done any research on SEO, there is a good chance you know about Google PR. You know it shows up on your Google toolbar, and that is has some weight in determining your search engine rankings. But, what really is it, how does it work, and what should you do about it?

Google Pagerank is yet another way the fine folks at Google try to determine the importance of your webpage and it’s place in the search engine rankings. By assigning a proprietary ranking to your web page (From PR0 to PR10), it is easier to see what the value of your page is (in the eyes of Google) and to find other link partners that will help boost your websites PR and rankings. It also lets you compare your website to your competitors subjectively and find places where you need improvement.

What is the Algorithm?

The algorithm that Google uses to determine a sites page rank is truly unknown. While many people claim to know the major components of it, hardly anyone knows the whole formula. It is generally accepted that getting links from high PR sites is the best way to increase the PR of your own site. Unlike many other search engine metrics, Google PR doesn’t seem to take many on page factors into consideration when determining the PR of a web page.

Spoofed Pagerank

More and more website owners are trying to artificially inflate their page ranks in hope of increasing their search engine rankings. The main way they do this is by building or participating in link farms. By artificially creating a net of linked together websites, you can boost your PR to a higher level, even though your website is not important.

Another thing people try is purchasing paid links from high PR sites. While this does work, if Google finds out they will penalize your website. There is no real way of knowing how Google finds out this information, or the actual amount of sites they penalize for paid links, but you should be careful when engaging in this kind of activity.

No-Follow Links

One thing that web developers can do is classify their links as “nofollow”. What this does is not transfer any of their Pagerank to the sites they link to when the nofollow tag is attached. This limits the effectiveness of comment spamming and people posting their links for their own personal benefit.

All in all, Google PR is something you should be aware of, but it is not the only important thing when thinking about SEO. There are many on page and other off page factors that determine where your website ranks in the search engines, and they should not be neglected. The best plan is to work on every aspect of your site, make it attractive to users, and in the end, Google will rank you high (hopefully..)