Understanding PageRank and Its Influence on Google Rankings
Google PR (PageRank) is important in search rankings, but PR is only one of hundreds of calculations that Google looks at in order to deliver its SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages).
Because PR is only one of hundreds of calculations, it is always possible for a web page to have a PR2 and still rank higher than a web page with a PR8 for a specific keyword search in Google’s search results.
It has been my experience that while PageRank and Links (which are more or less synonymous, since PageRank is a ranking value derived by Google representing the number and value of pages pointing to the target web page) are important in the Google SERPs, PageRank by itself cannot guarantee your website top rankings in Google. I know that PR and Links are not more than 50% of Google’s ranking considerations, because I have seen instances (and I show an example below) where the number of links someone has to their website (as one of the multitude of other linking factors involved) will not enable people to always top their competitors in the search results.
Just to prove my point, a friend of mine has a SEO business. He was showing me the other day one of the sites he has managed to rank for a really-competitive keyword phrase. I knew that this site was #3 in Google for its specific search term and it was up against some of the biggest, deepest pocket websites on the internet (think Cnet, Tucows, and the like). So, I just pulled the top ten results on that keyword search and looked at the PageRank of each of the results. Here is my proof of concept:
1 - 10 of about 52,400,000
Result #1 - pr6 - 7,070 visible Google links - 3,723,382 Yahoo Links
Result #2 - pr6 - 113 Google links - 132,913 Yahoo Links
Result #3 - pr2 - 20 Google links - 472 Yahoo Links *** my friends’ client
Result #4 - pr6 - 6 Google links - 217 Yahoo Links
Result #5 - pr8 - 3,140 Google links - 315,894 Yahoo Links
Result #6 - pr3 - 848 Google links - 377,581 Yahoo Links
Result #7 - pr5 - 318 Google links - 106,994 Yahoo Links
Result #8 - pr7 - 1,040 Google links - 36,749 Yahoo Links
Result #9 - pr4 - 82 Google links - 11,778 Yahoo Links
Result #10 - pr3 - 4 Google links - 137 Yahoo Links
(As I am sure most of you are aware, the Google Toolbar PageRank was updated just a few weeks ago, so these PageRank numbers should be considered fairly accurate at this time.)
These results clearly show that PageRank is not the final consideration on this search and the number of inbound links will not be the final consideration either.
Result #3 is ahead of 7 other websites, which have a higher PageRank, and it has fewer inbound links than all but two of those web pages listed under it in Google’s search results. This isn’t just a quirk either. This website has been sitting at #3 for the last eight months at least, ahead of huge deep-pocket corporate websites. The only results that are not big-budget corporations, in this list of ten websites, are #3 and #10.
Even #5 is a PR8 and it has been topped by four sites with less Google PageRank and three sites with fewer inbound links.
We have always known that Google’s Link: tool produces far fewer results than Yahoo’s Link: tool. This example validates that observation in every case. (The only way to get closer-to-accurate numbers for the inbound links calculation from Google is to log into the Google Webmaster Tools dashboard.) But interestingly, no matter whose link numbers you show with the search results, there are sites with more inbound links, below sites that have fewer inbound links.
As stated previously, Google PageRank and Inbound Links are nearly synonymous. With the exception of #4 and #5, both Yahoo and Google’s inbound link counts nearly and closely match the PageRank given to each web page in this set of search results. In some cases, the sheer number of links rules the day, while others like #4 and #5, the value of the links pointing to the website indicate the PageRank earned by the page.
What works for wildly-competitive search phrases also works with non-competitive keyword phrases. This story remains the same whether there are 52,400,000 or 2,000 search results for the key phrase.
This is just one example of many that people could dig up that prove that Google PageRank and Inbound Links are not the most important elements in a web page ranking well in Google.
Google Love is a description that people use to describe Link Popularity in Google’s search engine results. This post tells a bit more about that and how to influence it.
Articles have proven effective at building inbound links for a website, building PageRank and driving traffic to a website. But, many people seem to think that the inbound links created from article marketing will guarantee search engine placement inside of Google. While important, inbound links and high PageRank is not a one-size-fits-all solution to anything. I have in the past pushed certain keyword phrases to page one of Google using only article marketing, and in conjunction with other methods, but even though I write tons of articles and build hundreds of inbound links to my website every month, I still have certain desired keywords on page three, four and five of Google’s search results.
PageRank and Inbound Links are important in the Google ranking game, but they are not the only factors that will influence ranking success in Google. If you desire to keep the mindset that Google PageRank is the only factor that will influence the success of your website, then read this article.
To learn more about article marketing, visit my primary website: http://www.thephantomwriters.com
My name is Bill Platt, and I hope you found this article informative and helpful to you.
