Actually PageRank is no more than just a link analysis algorithm introduced and used by Google. It was introduced by Google in 1998 when Larry Page and Sergey brin first brought their paper formula to public. The PageRank algorithm scales sites between values starting from 0 to 10. It is really a very effective Page Popularity or Page Ranking algorithm that keeps track of all incoming and outgoing links to and from a page. It is based only and only on the quality and not quantity of sites' linking to one site. Google PageRank is the most popular algorithm amongst the bloggers and webmasters is it has always remained a very hot topic in all SEO forums and blogs. The algorithm is updated three-four times a year. The most recent PageRank update was in February 4th 2013. Whenever I inform my readers about PageRank Algorithm update, many of them cheer on hearing the news while many of them get demotivated. So in the last post of this series, we will learn the actual technical reasons of why some of the pages rank higher in this algorithm with just few links while others still remain where they are despite of having several incoming links. Note: This is part 4 our our series on PageRank and Alexa Rank. We highly recommend that you read this series sequentially. If you have not read the previous parts then you may do so for better understanding of the topic.
PageRank and Alexa Rank Series
Part4: 3 Reasons Why Your PageRank is not Increasing!
Is Google PageRank Dependent on Incoming Links or Not?
The answer is a direct NO! Yes PageRank is scaled on the number of dofollow links that point to your site or blog but if the quantity of the links were the only source to achieve high a PR, then why does PageRank actually drop for some? Why do blogs with just few links rank higher than those with several inbound links? You should understand that the Google PageRank algorithm is based not only on the quantity of links towards a blog. Google PR robots look carefully at three factors,
- Significance of Incoming links
- Balance Between Incoming and Outgoing links
- Use of your Current PageRank
Now for better understanding, lets discuss all these three phrases one by one.
1. Significance of Incoming Links
Google spiders scan the World Wide Web in every fraction of a second and crawl and index pages continuously present in its databases. It always hunts for quality websites with good, helpful and unique content and then categorize them individually from those blogs, websites or forums that always publish poor content, old and outdated stories and violate Google policies and copyrights. When sites with rich authority in the eyes of Google and those with PR greater than 2 link to your blog, your blog starts attracting Google spiders (robots) and then forces them to pay you proper respect because you have been recommended by a blog that has already won reputation in the eyes of Google and has a lot of respect of itself for the past 3 months and above. So significance of links is actually referring to whether sites that link to you do have some good PR or not. As I mentioned above, PR is based only and only on the quality and not quantity of links. Can there really be a difference in who is linking to you? Yes there lies a great gap. I have made a table to make you better understand. Follow the table below,
Please Note: Take for granted that your site has a PR 0.0 and your then gradually it starts receiving links from one single site. I repeat, the inbound links that are mentioned here are only from one single site and not from several! See how these can effect your PageRank.
Note: The following data is based on my blogging experience and are mere but close assumptions.
| Website's/Blog's PageRank | Links Impact |
| PR 0.0 | 50 or above links required to earn a PR1 or maybe PR0. |
| PR 1.0 | About 5-10 links from here can easily earn you a PR 1.0 |
| PR 2.0 | One Link can Earn you a PR1. Greater than 5 Links Can earn you a PR2 |
| PR 3.0 | One Link can Earn you PR 1 or PR2. Greater than 5 Links Can earn you PR3 |
| PR 4.0 | One link can earn you PR2 5 Links Will Earn you PR3 15 or above links will Earn you PR4 |
| PR 5.0 | One Link can earn you PR2 or PR3 5 Links Will Earn you PR4 Not sure about PR5 and PR6 |
| PR 6.0 | One Link can earn you PR3 Two Links PR4 Greater than 10 Links Can earn you PR5 Not sure about PR6 |
I have mentioned the impact of 10 links only for PR6. I really don't know the intensity of impact at higher PR's for such numbers of link density.
So if your fellow blogger received a PageRank increase with just one link and you could not receive it with even 20 or above links, then check to see if your incoming links are rich and have authority already in the eyes of Google. This is one reason why some rank high while others don't!
2. Balance Between Incoming and Outgoing links
Always make sure to only link to external sites when needed. Actually when you link external sites, you are indirectly sharing your PR with that site. Linking to low quality websites or blogs often effects your PR. Of course your outgoing links will always be greater than your incoming links but it is very important to keep the ratio between them as low as possible. This is indeed one of the best optimization strategies and is highly recommended.
For instance if your incoming links are 100 and then your outgoing links are more than 10,000, then the chances of a PR drop are certain. There is one way to keep the ratio as low as possible. You can simply tag the external links as nofollow. The nofollow tag will only allow your readers to visit that link but will tell Google spiders not to craw the link.
3. Use of your Current PageRank
Many people ask this question that even when they have done nothing wrong, their PR has dropped. Now this phrase has a complete different meaning. So this phase will answer that question.
You will loose your PageRank when you disobey the rules set by the Google PageRank Team. It is been clearly mentioned several times by Matt Cutts The Head of Google Web Spam Team, that PageRank should never be misused. By misusing, he means selling links on your website to many link builders. When you link to a site, you recommend a website to Google and doing that just for the sake of money and not because of quality content, will disturb the whole search results and quality content will rank higher lower. When you receive a PR4 or above, many webmasters will contact you and offer you money to add their link to one of the high ranked pages of your blog. They will offer you as high as $200 per link. If people commit this crime, then upon next crawl of that page, Google detects that a new irrelevant link has been added which was previously not present and then the robot finally comes to a conclusion "Link Sell Detected!" Thus on next update you loose your hard earned PR.
Conclusion
Do not worry about PageRank as you should be about your Alexa Rank. Give more value to your readership and social rankings. For the first year of your blogging, pay less attention to revenue and more to getting good readership and social rankings. I hope this little info proves helpful in clarifying all the technical reasons behind PageRank drop and rise of certain blogs or sites. Wish to see you all rejoicing on next PageRank update probably on June 28 - July 1st Week. If you want to know the PageRank update Schedule the read this post:
Peace and blessings pals :)
Peace and blessings pals :)
Nice Post!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks glad you like it.
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