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Update:
PageRank continues to be an important factor in ranking well
in Google, but is not the only factor. It seems to be having
less importance and webmasters are not as obsessed as they once
were with getting the largest PR possible. It is still a reasonably
accurate indicator of a sites age and presence on the Internet.
As you begin to become more involved in promoting your web site
online you will start to come across the PageRank term more
often. PageRank is a technology developed by the Google search
engine to measure the importance of web pages, often referred
to as PR. Some of the basics of PageRank and how to improve
the PageRank of your of your website will be listed in this
article.
How to find out your Page Rank (PR)
To view your PageRank you will have to download and install
the Google Toolbar. http://toolbar.google.com/
Once installed you will be able to view the PR of any website
you visit, ranging from a PageRank of 0 through to 10.
(If you haven't already downloaded the Google Toolbar it is
worth it just for the Popup blocker and easily accessible search
options)
What is PageRank and why is it so
Important?
The Search Engine Google developed PageRank as a way of measuring
the importance of a web page on the Internet. PR is determined
by the amount of websites linking to yours, but it doesn't count
all links as being equal. PageRank measures the importance and
relevance of the website linking to yours and then passes on
the appropriate PR value to your site.
Basically, all websites linking to yours are a vote of importance
for your PageRank, but to gain more votes from each link it
should be related to your web page and have a good PageRank
itself.
The reason PageRank is so important is to get listed higher
on Google's search results as PageRank is an important factor
in determining where your site is listed.
Google has more information on PageRank..
http://www.google.com/corporate/tech.html
http://www.google.com/webmasters/4.html
How to Improve your PageRank
The more relevant and important incoming links to your website
the better your PageRank will be. The easiest way to start to
improve your PageRank is to exchange link with related websites
that already have a high PR. A better (although more challenging)
option is to get relevant high PR websites linking to yours
without you having to add their link on your site. There are
many directories that will list your without having to exchange
links, but most of them either charge a fee or make you wait
forever to be listed. So you either have to exchange links with
other webmasters or develop a valuable website that others will
want to link to freely.
Factors that affect PageRank
There are several things to consider when looking to either
exchange links with other web sites or to be
listed in directories.
Relevance of the Website
An industry relevant link is of more importance than a link
from an unrelated website. So a link from an art
directory or another artist is of more importance
than a casino if you are an artist looking for to improve your
PageRank.
PageRank of the page linking to you
One of the most important factors is the PageRank of the site
linking to you, more specifically the actual page linking to
you. This determines the amount of votes your site receives
their link. PageRank is updated monthly by Google and new pages
will start with a PR of zero. So if the page you are receiving
a link from is new but the mainpage of the website has a good
PR than it is likely that in the future the new page where your
link is will also have a good PR.
Number of Links on the Page
The fewer outgoing links on the page that you are receiving
a link from the more PageRank value you will receive. The PR
gained from the link will be divided and shared with all the
other links on that page. So if you get a link on a PR6 page
that has 100 outgoing links you will receive less value than
a PR4 with only 10 outgoing links on it.
Javascript and Redirected Links
If you are looking to improve your PageRank than avoid requesting
links from websites that put your link in Javascript or links
that are redirected. A Javascript link where you will get no
benefit will look something like this.. javascript:window('http://www.linkism.com')
. Some webmasters employ this tactic to stop any PageRank value
leaking from their site. If the page is very popular than it
might be worth getting linked, but you will receive no PR value
or benefit from search engines by getting links hidden in Javascript.
Redirected links of similar value. You just have to decide if
the page is really worth getting a link from. If they receive
very little traffic than it's really not worth the effort, especially
if you are benefiting their site with a good exchange link (in
other words you are voting for their PageRank but they're not
voting for yours).
PR Conclusion
PageRank is currently a very important factor in getting well
listed in search engines, particularly Google. If you focus
on building a good quality site that people will want to link
to freely than your PageRank will increase by itself. But if
your site is new or you sell a competitive product than you
will have to work hard to increase your PR with a linking campaign.
Remember that Google only updates PR about once a month so be
patient and make improving your PageRank a long term goal.
Good luck with your PageRank!
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