Google Pagerank Obsession is Lame
I have seen a large number of people overly obsessed with Google Pagerank. Sure, having a decent pagerank is nice, but obsessing over it is lame. When you ask these people why they are so infatuated with the pagerank of their site, many can not give a good reason. In fact, many of these people appear to not have a clue about pagerank and what it really is. So let’s back up the truck and take a brief look at Google Pagerank.
What is Pagerank
Google pagerank is essentially a measuring stick by Google in relation to the amount of links your site or page has from other web properties. Incoming links to your site are weighted differently by Google on several factors. Google may consider some incoming links more valuable and therefore assign more of a weight to these links. More valuable link weighting can be results of an incoming link originating from a high pagerank page, or maybe an incoming link originating from an authority site. The pagerank scale ranges from 0-10, with 10 being the highest.
Why Pagerank is Important
There is no denying that pagerank can play a role in the ranking of your website. Afterall, if Google is assigning a numerical ranking to your site, wouldn’t it make sense that this ranking should have an effect on your search engine rankings? It is important to note that pagerank is not the ulitimate determining factor in deciding where your website is listed within the search results. In fact there are hundreds, if not thousands of factors Google takes into consideration when determining the search engine results for particular keywords.
What Pagerank Is Not
High pagerank is not the magical formula that will guarantee number one rankings for keywords you target. In fact, many times you will see sites with lower pagerank end up out ranking sites with a higher pagerank. This is simply because Google does not consider pagerank the sole determining factor of search engine results.
How to Increase Pagerank
For those interested in increasing your site’s pagerank, it simply comes down to increasing relevant inbound links to your site from other pageranked pages. Ideally, you will want to target sites or pages with higher pagerank. Sites with an already established Google Pagerank are already seen as relevant and link worthy in the eyes of Google. If this same ranking site were to link to your site, Google will more than likely look at your site as a relevant source as well. The more of these types of inbound links, the more relevant and pagreank worthy your site will become. Keep in mind this is an ongoing process and will not increase your pagerank over night.
So Why the Hype About Pagerank?
I browse quite a few sites and forums. In fact I am somewhat baffled in what I see some of these “self proclaimed SEO gurus” talking about. There are many who like to talk about how their site has such and such pagerank. Well that is nice and all, but where does that site rank for targeted keywords in that niche? How much targeted traffic does it get? Most of the time, these questions are dodged since the site doesn’t rank for anything other than their sitename. However, there are times where you get a so called SEO expert saying their site ranks number one for obscure term that no one will ever search for. What good does it do to rank number one for a phrase that no one searches for? Not much.
Sometimes I get the feeling that some people use pagerank as a bragging right to tout their online incompetence. More times than not, many of these users are touting their pagerank and that they are an SEO god, when in fact they really have no clue about SEO. Typically, these users are trying to impress everyone with their pagerank 3 site. Hate to break it to them, but a pagerank 3 site is nothing to brag about.
Pagerank Misconception
Unfortunately, there is a misconception about pagerank and what it really means among the newer webmaster crowd. Somewhere along the way, Google Pagerank importance was over hyped to this crowd and many have become obsessed with increasing their pagerank rather than focusing on actual optimization of their site. What many fail to realize that a great site, with great content, proper optimization, and some other SEO basics will ultimately lead to an increased pagerank over time. Not only will the webmaster get an increased pagerank they are after, but ultimately they will see an increase in search engine rankings for their targeted keywords.
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