What is PageRank?

PageRank is a numeric value that represents how important a web site is on the Internet. It believes that the most important pages on the Internet are the pages with the most links leading to them. PageRank thinks of links as votes.

This makes sense, because people will link to relevant content, and pages with more links to them are usually better resources than pages that nobody links.

But PageRank doesn’t stop here. It also looks at the importance of the page that contains the link. Pages with higher PageRank have more weight in “voting”. This also makes sense as pages that are important are probably better authorities in leading web surfers to better sources.

How important is PageRank?

PageRank is Google’s way of deciding a page’s importance. It matters because it is one of the factors that determine a page’s ranking in the search results. It isn’t the only factor that Google uses to rank pages.

Note: Not all links are counted by Google. For instance, they filter out links from known link farms. Some links can cause a site to be penalized by Google.

How is PageRank calculated?

PageRank is measured on a scale of zero to ten and are assigned to individual pages within a website, not the entire website. Very few pages have a PageRank of 10.

To read more on how PageRank is calculated: Web Workshop.

How can I increase my PageRank?

  1. One-way inbound links from websites with topics that are related to your website’s topic will help you gain a higher page rank.
  2. The number of links outbound from the website that links to you also determines the value of the link. For instance, a related website with 10 outbound links that links to you is much better than a related website with 100 outbound links that link to you.
  3. The more pages that a site has, the more PageRank it has. Note, that the only pages that count are the ones that Google knows about. Good internal linking and navigation will help.

To read more on how to improve your PageRank: GoogleGuide.com.

How do I check my PageRank?

There are many PageRank checking tools you can use to check your PageRank. Here are a few you should consider:

Page Rank Checker

  • checks PageRank of a page
  • provides a PageRank button that can be placed onto a webpage

CheckPageRank.net

  • checks PageRank of a page
  • provides other information including PageRank validation, Google and Yahoo listed status, the domain age and history

FreePRChecker.com

  • checks PageRank
  • provides other information including PageRank button, PageRank validation, backlinks (including Alexa, Google, Yahoo), Google and Yahoo listed status, Alexa traffic status and graphs, host data center location, etc.
  • it also extracts backlinks and check each backlink pagerank value. This great feature allows you to find out which website is linking to your web page and their respective pageranks

Remember, PageRank is only one factor. It is not uncommon for a PR6 site to rank above a PR8 site on search engines with the appropriate keywords and quality content.

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