Difference between revisions of "Learn/What-PageRank-Means-for-Your-Website"

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<big>''This article is a work in progress and has not yet been published in our [[Learn]] section. If you have any feedback on this article, email Kristina@AboutUs.org.''</big>
 
 
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{{ArticleTemplate2
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| Writer = KristinaWeis
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| Writer = Kristina Weis
 
| Name = Kristina Weis
 
| Name = Kristina Weis
 
| Header = What%20PageRank%20Means%20for%20Your%20Website
 
| Header = What%20PageRank%20Means%20for%20Your%20Website
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| Subhead = PageRank:Why does it matter?
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| Subhead = PageRank: The most sought secret
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| Bitly = http://bit.ly/NotSure
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| Bitly = http://www.aboutus.com/what-pagerank-means-how-to-improve-yours/
 
| Date = December 14, 2010
 
| Date = December 14, 2010
 
}}
 
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==What is PageRank?==
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===What is PageRank?===
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PageRank is all about reputation and the value of links. It's a measurement of how important any web page is, based on the number of links to that page and the importance of the sites providing the links.
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[[Image:PageRankImageFromWikipedia.png|right|200px]]
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PageRank is all about reputation and the value of links. It's a measurement of how important any web page is, based on the number of links to that page and the importance of the sites providing those links.
 
    
 
    
 
PageRank is at the heart of Google's ranking algorithm, which guides the company's attempt to return the most relevant results for any search query. Google uses at least [http://searchengineland.com/schmidt-listing-googles-200-ranking-factors-would-reveal-business-secrets-51065 200 ranking factors], which is good to keep in mind whenever anyone starts talking about PageRank.  
 
PageRank is at the heart of Google's ranking algorithm, which guides the company's attempt to return the most relevant results for any search query. Google uses at least [http://searchengineland.com/schmidt-listing-googles-200-ranking-factors-would-reveal-business-secrets-51065 200 ranking factors], which is good to keep in mind whenever anyone starts talking about PageRank.  
  
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Interesting factoid: While PageRank is a measure applied to web pages, it's actually named after Larry Page, one of Google's two co-founders.
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<big><big>'''[http://www.aboutus.com/what-pagerank-means-how-to-improve-yours/ ...read more]'''
  
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===What do PageRank numbers mean?===
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This article has been moved to [http://www.aboutus.com/what-pagerank-means-how-to-improve-yours/ www.AboutUs.com/what-pagerank-means-how-to-improve-yours/].</big></big>
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<!--Interesting factoid: While PageRank is a measure applied to web '''pages''', it's actually named after '''Larry Page''', one of Google's two co-founders.
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==What do PageRank numbers mean?==
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----
 
<div style="float:right; margin-left:1em;"><YouTube>h3Jup5R1MGY</YouTube></div>
 
<div style="float:right; margin-left:1em;"><YouTube>h3Jup5R1MGY</YouTube></div>
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Google's internal PageRank calculations are continually updated, but the PageRank numbers we see on [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/321 toolbars like the one I have on FireFox] are updated only a few times per year. The number you see on a toolbar may not be an accurate reflection of Google's current PageRank for that page. Matt Cutts of Google explains this in the video to the right.
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Google's internal PageRank calculations are continually updated, but the public PageRank numbers we see on [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/321 toolbars like the one I have on Firefox] are updated only a few times per year. The number you see on a toolbar may not be an accurate reflection of Google's current internal PageRank rating for that page. Matt Cutts of Google explains this in the video to the right.
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Public PageRank is displayed in toolbars as a number ranging from zero to 10 (or unranked). Each page within a website will have its own PageRank value. The vast majority of web pages have a public PageRank of zero. As the PageRank number goes up, the number of web pages with that number gets smaller. Just a handful of very popular web pages have a PageRank of 8, 9 or 10.
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For most websites, the home page will have the highest public PageRank. Other prominent pages on the site will have higher PageRank than less-linked, less-visited pages. A typical website whose home page has a public PageRank of 3, 4 or 5 is doing quite well.
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==How can you improve your PageRank?==
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Using recommended tactics for improving the PageRank of your important web pages will also improve the search engine optimization ([[SEO]]) of those pages, helping them rank higher in search results. You'll also likely boost the number of pages on your site that are [[Learn/Get-Your-Website-Indexed|indexed by search engines]], which in turn should make it easier for your target audience to find your site.
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<br />
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* Get '''good [[Glossary/Inbound-link|inbound links]] (also called backlinks)''' to your site's most important pages. Make sure the links to your site aren't [[Glossary/NoFollow|NoFollow]], because [[Learn/No-Follow-Links-Don't-Help-PageRank-or-SEO|NoFollow links don't help PageRank]].
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**Use the AboutUs.org Web Presence section to check how many backlinks Google, Yahoo and Alexa think your site has. You'll also see which sites link to yours. Just search for your website (for example, MyWebsite.com) at the top right of any AboutUs page, and then click the "Web Presence" tab in the left-hand navigation.
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** The best way to get links is to provide interesting information on your site, and to win the attention of bloggers in your field or industry. For tips on getting quality backlinks, read our [[Learn/Link-Building|articles about link building]].
  
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Toolbar PageRank is displayed as a 0 through 10 number, or unranked. PageRank is a logarithmic rather than linear scale. [http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-science-of-ranking-correlations SEOmoz estimates] the log base to be around 8-10, meaning that a PR5 web page has 8-10 times more PageRank than a PR4. The vast majority of web pages have a public PageRank of 0, while fewer have PR 1, and even fewer have PR 2 and so on... up until just a handful of the most popular website home pages with PageRank of 8, 9 or 10. For more on the math of the PageRank link analysis algorithm, see the [[Wikipedia:PageRank|Wikipedia article about PageRank]].
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* Make sure your important pages are '''three or fewer clicks''' from your home page. Pages buried deep within a site are harder to find, and therefore, get linked less often.
  
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PageRank is different for each page on a website. In most cases, the home page has the highest toolbar PageRank number and prominent pages on the site have notable, but lower, PageRank. For a typical website, a toolbar PageRank of 3, 4 or 5 on the home page is quite good.
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* Creating an [[HTML sitemap]] can help distribute the goodness of high PageRank pages within your site to other pages, as explained by Google's Matt Cutts in this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5LIlkhxl2s video clip.] Linking related pages on your site to each other can also help distribute PageRank goodness within your site.
  
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''Don't know your site's PageRank?'' You can check it on a variety of sites or install an [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/321 extension like this one I use with Firefox] that shows the PageRank of the page you're on as well the site's [[Alexa]] rank down at the bottom right.
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==What does Google say about PageRank?==
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Until October 2009, Google included public PageRank in its Webmaster Tools metrics. A Google employee explained that the company [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank#Removal_from_Google_Webmaster_Tools removed PageRank] from Webmaster Tools because Google believes it's not very important. The company also wants website owners and operators to stop obsessing about PageRank and focus instead on providing value to people searching the Web.
  
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===How can you improve the PageRank of pages on your website?===
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Though Matt Cutts and others have tried to get PageRank removed from the Google Toolbar since 2007, it remains in place.
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These tactics can not only help improve your PageRank, but more importantly, your [[SEO]] overall and the numbers of pages on your site that are [[Learn/Get-Your-Website-Indexed|indexed by search engines]]:
 
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* Get '''good [[Learn/Get-Good-Backlinks|inbound links]] (or backlinks)''' to your site and its important pages.
 
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**Want to know how many and which backlinks Google, Yahoo and Alexa thinks your site has? Search for your website (like example.com) at the top right here on AboutUs.org and then click "Search Engine Visibility" at the top left. This is a feature of our [[Online Visibility Audit]].
 
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* Make sure your important pages can be reached from your home page by '''three clicks or less'''.
 
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* An [[HTML sitemap]] can help distribute PageRank (as Matt Cutts of Google [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5LIlkhxl2s describes in the video]).
 
  
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===What does Google say about PageRank?===
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==How often search engines crawl your site may mean more than PageRank==
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Until October 2009, toolbar PageRank was a component of Google Webmaster Tools for a website. A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank#Removal_from_Google_Webmaster_Tools Google employee said] of its removal that the PageRank metric really isn't important and that Google has been trying to get people to focus on it less.
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A post on the [[SEOBook.com]] blog suggests that [http://www.seobook.com/archives/001985.shtml the date Google last cached a site] - that is, crawled and indexed its pages - indicates Google's algorithmic opinion of that website better than the public PageRank number.  
  
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Despite Matt Cutts and others trying to get PageRank removed from the Google Toolbar way back in 2007, it remains.
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To find out when a website's home page was last cached by Google, Yahoo and Bing, search for the website (example: MyWebsite.com) on AboutUs.org. Once you reach the page for that site, click on the "Search Engine Visibility" tab in the left-hand navigation bar.  
  
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Matt Cutts [http://www.stonetemple.com/articles/interview-matt-cutts-012510.shtml said in a March 2010 interview], "There is also not a hard limit on our crawl. The best way to think about it is that the number of pages that we crawl is roughly proportional to your PageRank."
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You can get the most recent data by clicking "Refresh the numbers." If the "date last crawled" is within the past couple of days - or better yet, today - your site is  probably doing well with the search engines. If the date last crawled is more than a week ago, search engines may think that your site's content is stale, or less valuable than it could be.
  
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===How often search engines crawl your site may be more meaningful than PageRank===
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PageRank can help you understand why search engines crawl a certain proportion of the pages on your site. In a [http://www.stonetemple.com/articles/interview-matt-cutts-012510.shtml March 2010 interview], Matt Cutts said, "There is also not a hard limit on our crawl. The best way to think about it is that the number of pages that we crawl is roughly proportional to your PageRank."
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A [[SEOBook.com]] post [http://www.seobook.com/archives/001985.shtml suggests that a website's last cache date] (when Google last crawled the site) is a better indicator of Google's algorithmic opinion of that website.
 
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[[Image:SearchEngineVisibility.png|right|170px]]
 
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To find out when a website's homepage was last cached by Google (plus Yahoo and Bing), search for the website (like example.com) here on AboutUs.org and click "Search Engine Visibility" near the top left. Click "Refresh the numbers" and we'll give you the most current data. If the "Last Crawled Date" is in the last couple of days -- or better yet, today -- it's probably doing well in the eyes of the search engines. If it was more than a week ago, search engines may think that its content is stale or less valuable.
 
  
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==Questions About PageRank==
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==Questions about PageRank==
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* Is a link from a PageRank 5 site more valuable than a PR 4 site?
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** First of all, the phrase "PageRank # site" doesn't mean anything more than the website's '''home page''' has that PageRank. If the link if coming from the website's home page, then a link from a page with higher PageRank is probably better. If the link is not from the home page, the PageRank of the individual web page that is linking to you is much more meaningful.
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'''''Is a link from a PageRank 5 site more valuable than a link from a PR 4 site?'''''
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* Linking to a web page (unless the link is NoFollow) effectively gives it some PageRank. Does that mean that the web page on my site that I'm linking from loses some of its PageRank?
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* First of all, the phrase "PageRank 5 site" isn't really meaningful - it just refers to the PageRank of the website's home page. While Google does apparently calculate an overall PageRank value for a website, that number is not publicly available.
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** [http://www.dailyblogtips.com/linking-out-google-pagerank/ No].
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* A link from a page with higher PageRank is more valuable than a link from a page with lower PageRank. Often a site's home page will have the highest PageRank of any page on that site. If you know the person who has linked to your site, you might ask them to link from their highest-ranking page, so you can get more value from the link.  
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* If my website's PageRank decreases, does that mean it has been penalized?
 
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**[http://www.seobook.com/google-lowered-my-pagerank-was-i-penalized No]. See next question.
 
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* Can a web page's PageRank decrease?
 
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** Absolutely. If some websites stop linking to you, or if the websites linking to you lose inbound links and PageRank, or if a web page or site linking to you [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fia_1b07jCQ ceases to exist]... then your link reputation isn't as good. This would most definitely result in your Google's PageRank score for your web page decreasing, and depending on how much was lost you may see your toolbar PageRank number go down too.
 
  
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''Have a question about PageRank? Email Kristina@AboutUs.org and I will try to answer it here.''
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'''''Linking to any web page (unless the link is marked [[Glossary/NoFollow|NoFollow]]) effectively gives it some PageRank. Does that mean that including a link on one of my pages makes it lose some of its PageRank?'''''
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* In a word: [http://www.dailyblogtips.com/linking-out-google-pagerank/ No].
  
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===Further Reading===
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'''''If my website's PageRank decreases, does that mean it has been penalized?'''''
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*[http://searchengineland.com/what-is-a-link-worth-part-1-valuing-pagerank-34526 What Is A Link Worth? Part 1: Valuing PageRank] from [[SearchEngineLand.com]], February 2010
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* Again, [http://www.seobook.com/google-lowered-my-pagerank-was-i-penalized no]. See next question.
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*[http://searchengineland.com/36-seo-myths-that-wont-die-but-need-to-40076 36 SEO Myths] including: Your PageRank score, as reported by Google’s toolbar server, is highly correlated to your Google rankings.
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*[http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-science-of-ranking-correlations The Science of Ranking Algorithms: How Does PageRank Perform?] by Rand Fishkin on [[SEOmoz.org]], April 2010
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'''''Can a web page's PageRank decrease?'''''
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* Absolutely. PageRank is essentially reputation, conveyed by links. That reputation, and therefore your PageRank, can decrease if:
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** some websites stop linking to you, or
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** websites linking to you lose inbound links and PageRank, or
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** a web page linking to you [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fia_1b07jCQ ceases to exist].
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*If a web page's PageRank decreases, you may also see its public PageRank number decline. Remember, though, that public PageRank for any web page is not as frequently updated as Google's own internal PageRank number.
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==More PageRank resources==
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* [http://searchengineland.com/what-is-a-link-worth-part-1-valuing-pagerank-34526 What Is A Link Worth? Part 1: Valuing PageRank] from [[SearchEngineLand.com]], February 2010
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* [http://searchengineland.com/36-seo-myths-that-wont-die-but-need-to-40076 36 SEO Myths] including: Your PageRank score, as reported by Google’s toolbar server, is highly correlated to your Google rankings.
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* [http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-science-of-ranking-correlations The Science of Ranking Algorithms: How Does PageRank Perform?] by Rand Fishkin on [[SEOmoz.org]], April 2010
 
* [http://www.seobook.com/tedster-interview Interview with Ted Ulle (Tedster)] from [[WebmasterWorld]] where he said "What PageRank is measuring (or attempting to measure) is still very critical — both the quality and number of other web pages that link to the given page. We don't need to worship those public PR numbers, but we definitely do need quality back-links (and quality internal linking) to rank well on competitive queries."
 
* [http://www.seobook.com/tedster-interview Interview with Ted Ulle (Tedster)] from [[WebmasterWorld]] where he said "What PageRank is measuring (or attempting to measure) is still very critical — both the quality and number of other web pages that link to the given page. We don't need to worship those public PR numbers, but we definitely do need quality back-links (and quality internal linking) to rank well on competitive queries."
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* There's some interesting math behind PageRank. It's based on a logarithmic scale,  and [http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-science-of-ranking-correlations SEOmoz estimates] the log base at 8 to 10. That means a PR 5 web page has 8-10 times more PageRank than a PR 4 page. For more on the math of the PageRank link analysis algorithm, see the [[Wikipedia:PageRank|Wikipedia article about PageRank]].
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* You can check the PageRank of specific pages on your site using tools such as the [http://www.pagerank.net/pagerank-checker/ PageRank checker] at {{LinkPair|PageRank.net}}. You can also install a web browser extension like [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/321 the one I use for Firefox], which shows the PageRank of the web page you're currently viewing. This extension also shows you the site's [[Alexa]] rank. -->
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''Have a question about PageRank? [http://www.aboutus.com/what-pagerank-means-how-to-improve-yours/ Click here to read the full article and leave a comment] if you like.''
  
 
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| Name          = Kristina Weis
 
| Name          = Kristina Weis
 
| Image        = Image:KristinaBluesFest.png
 
| Image        = Image:KristinaBluesFest.png
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| AuthorWebsite = AboutUs.org
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| AuthorWebsite = KristinaWeis.com
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| ShortBio      = Kristina is a community manager for [[AboutUs.org]] who talks with a lot of website owners who are trying to promote their business online. <small>Have a question? [[Kristina Weis#Contact|Contact me]].</small>
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| ShortBio      = Kristina is a community manager for [[AboutUs.org]] who talks with a lot of website owners who are trying to promote their business online. <small>Have a question? [[Kristina Weis#Contact_Kristina|Contact me]].</small>
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{{Twitter|KristinaWeis}}
 
}}
 
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Latest revision as of 23:32, 13 November 2013

By [[User:|]] on

What is PageRank?

PageRankImageFromWikipedia.png

PageRank is all about reputation and the value of links. It's a measurement of how important any web page is, based on the number of links to that page and the importance of the sites providing those links.

PageRank is at the heart of Google's ranking algorithm, which guides the company's attempt to return the most relevant results for any search query. Google uses at least 200 ranking factors, which is good to keep in mind whenever anyone starts talking about PageRank.

...read more

This article has been moved to www.AboutUs.com/what-pagerank-means-how-to-improve-yours/.


Have a question about PageRank? Click here to read the full article and leave a comment if you like.


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