It’s the bane of every webmaster and even the most accomplished SEO practitioners. Google serves up little green and white (and gray!) data on the value of every page on the Internet . And webmasters seeking link-partners follow blindly as if drawn to their latest fix of soma.
However, we all know that the PageRank indicator on the Google Toolbar, where webmasters get this “data”, is first and foremost a gimmick by Google – a very clever gimmick – and more importantly, a fairy tale...even on those occasions when it is not broken.
Here is my Top-7 list of reasons to ignore PageRank when exchanging links or submitting one’s website to directories.
PageRank isn’t everything. While PageRank (real PageRank, not what the Toolbar shows) is a part of Google’s algorithm, it is only a small part. The theme of the page, how well it is optimized for your search term (as opposed to being well optimized for “Exchange Links”), the anchor text of your link and so many other related factors count more than the actual PageRank.
Toolbar PageRank is fictional. It doesn’t take very long roaming the Net for links before you realize that the Toolbar PageRank readings are not real. Just look at any site where a PR3 or PR4 page links to a few dozen internal pages, each of which appear to have PR0 or a gray bar. Whereas on other websites, the home page might register as PR3 or PR4 and so does every internal page, even two or three clicks in.
Gray is no longer bad. Once upon a time, a long time ago, gray on the toolbar meant “run”. It meant the page or even the whole website has been banned from Google for doing unspeakable things that could also get you banned by associating with it. Gray no longer means the site is banned. Check the cache feature of the Toolbar and see how many gray pages remain in Google’s index and are perfectly fine and respected. Your edge over your competition is that many of them will ignore good pages because of false Google Toolbar readings.
The Toolbar is broken. Increasingly, PageRank flips wildly, where a page registers a certain PageRank, then a week later it’s gone, even though other page on the website might not be affected. Or the whole site might lose PageRank, even those its link profile and its rankings in the search engines have not changed.
PageRank is only for Google. Yeah, I know...Google delivers 50% or more of search engine traffic, but that is no reason to ignore a page that might help you move up in Yahoo or Ask or MSN...or even send you direct sales (Which is the most gratifying of all).
You can simulate PageRank. The simple fact is that it takes very little effort to determine the value Google or any other search engine. If the website ranks well or even somewhat well for some of its important search terms, that is a good start. If the page your link would be placed on is well linked from the home page or even from a page that is linked to from the site template, then you know that whatever PageRank the website has as a whole is being passed along (and that human visitors might even find the page and click on your link, too.). If on the other hand the page your link would go on is one of several dozen that links from a page that is linked to from only the home page, only a small portion of the link value is even going to reach that page. You don’t need an exact number to determine the value of a page; you just need to estimate if the page is worth the effort. After all, topical and keyword relevancy, as well as the absence of red-letter words like “link exchange” or “reciprocal link” are probably more important and you can’t place an exact number on those factors.
Ignore the search engines. I know, this might seem like heresy, but try using your imagination for a minute. Supposing the search engines did not exist. Supposing the only way people would find your website was by clicking on links on other websites. Where would you want your link placed? In some directory with hundreds of other somewhat related websites? Or in the middle of a content page? Guess what? The search engines know what is worthwhile and what’s not. They are not stupid and they are not so easily tricked. If you build links for direct traffic, and make sure they are spiderable by the search engines, the smart guys at Google and yahoo and MSN can figure out that this link took more thought from the webmaster to place and is therefore a better indication of quality and a better vote for your website.
So break free of the PageRank addiction. Make sure you get links on pages cached by the search engines. Make sure the links are spiderable. And go for the highest quality links you can get by using your common sense and figuring it out – without the help of that broken fairytale sitting atop your browser window.
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