Introducing PageRank - shattering the myth

Written by Dave Collins


Continued from page 1

There is a scare story doingrepparttar rounds which claims that being listed on link popularity sites, or for that matter any site with a large number of links, can get your site penalised or even banned from Google. This is simply notrepparttar 108597 case. If it were, you'd effectively be able to wipe-out your competition's Google presence with one afternoon's work. It doesn't work that way.

Having links to your web pages on sites with a low page rank and a large number of links means thatrepparttar 108598 benefits are quite effectively minimised to zero. But this will not detract from your current PageRank at all.

Obviously, what people really want to know is whether PageRank can be manipulated. Inrepparttar 108599 past it was often considered impossible to do so, but nowadays this is not alwaysrepparttar 108600 case. There are two simple factors involved: Firstly: who links to you, and how they choose to do so. Secondly: your own website's navigation and internal links.

Clearly,repparttar 108601 sheer number of pages linking to you will not influence your PageRank. Of far greater importance isrepparttar 108602 PageRank of each of these pages, and how many links appear on them. Common sense certainly needs to be applied here. In theory, one simple way to improve your PageRank might be to have Microsoft link to you fromrepparttar 108603 front page of their website. In practice, this might be a little difficult to achieve.

It is already quite clear that linking out to another website, even if it opens in a new browser window, actually involves potentially giving away a lot more than a little space on your website. My advice would be to look at your link exchanges as you would your food. You always want to make sure you're not leaving yourself hungry, and if you do choose to share, be selective. Exchanging a piece of your sirloin steak for a small piece of stale bread, shared between hundreds of people, is far from an even trade. If you're doing so to help another site, as an act of charity, then this is fine and well, as long as you know what you're giving away. Choose wisely.

Well-known websites and their PageRank

Now that we have a basic understanding of how PageRank works, let's take a look at some ofrepparttar 108604 more well-known websites onrepparttar 108605 web today, and see how their main pages perform.

Finding out a page's PageRank is couldn't be simpler. Followrepparttar 108606 link to Services and Tools fromrepparttar 108607 Google home page, and findrepparttar 108608 Google Toolbar. After installingrepparttar 108609 software, a bar appears atrepparttar 108610 top ofrepparttar 108611 browser showing a value for each page you're visiting. Holdrepparttar 108612 mouse overrepparttar 108613 bar, and you'll be toldrepparttar 108614 page's PageRank - a score out of ten. As already mentioned, this figure is little more than a representation of a page's actual PageRank.

Not surprisingly, very few pages score ten out of ten, and those that do includesrepparttar 108615 likes of Microsoft, Yahoo, Google itself, AltaVista, Adobe, AOL, Mozilla.org and others. In other words we're looking atrepparttar 108616 biggest ofrepparttar 108617 biggest websites - and not something that most of us could ever hope to achieve!

Of course, there is a simple reason that search engines and directories have such a high PageRank. Not only do they link to a huge, ever-growing list of sites and pages, but more importantly, a truly staggering number of these sites and pages link back to them. When you considerrepparttar 108618 importance of reciprocal linking, you start to understand why they do so well. With Adobe, you only need to considerrepparttar 108619 sheer number of web pages out there that link to a PDF file (with links to Adobe for their free reader software), and you will see why they have achieved such a high number.

A nine out of ten score still puts you within a very small minority ofrepparttar 108620 web. Should you be able to achieve this high a PageRank, you'll be rubbing shoulders withrepparttar 108621 likes of MSN, BBC News, Winzip and Internet.com. We're talking aboutrepparttar 108622 web's upper classes here - not really attainable forrepparttar 108623 majority of normal website owners.

Eight out of ten starts bringing you torepparttar 108624 "reachable" web. You'll find sites such as CNN, TuCows, Simtel,repparttar 108625 Association of Shareware Professionals,repparttar 108626 Shareware Industry Conference site and Lockergnome.

A PageRank of seven is starting to appear reasonably attainable, as long as we're willing to work hard onrepparttar 108627 content and reputation of our site. The sevens include companies such as D-Link, MSNBC, CNET's Download.com and our very own SharewarePromotions.com.

Don't lose your perspective! At this point, a little perspective might be in order. A critical point to remember is that PageRank only plays a part in performing well in Google. PageRank's primary aim involves rankingrepparttar 108628 results of a search - but in order to show up inrepparttar 108629 search to start with, your site needs to be properly optimised and have good, solid content. So contrary to popular belief,repparttar 108630 era of Search Engine Optimisation is far from over. It's only had a new, interesting factor thrown into it.

Finally, a note of caution. This article has been an attempt to very briefly summarise an enormously complicated subject. Aside from constraints of space, much ofrepparttar 108631 workings of PageRank remain shrouded in mystery. The ideas presented are based on available data, known facts, speculation and my own experience - but none of it should be considered as insurmountable fact!

PageRank is undoubtedly an important factor in how much traffic you will receive from Google. It is, however, merely one component in your arsenal of tools to winrepparttar 108632 battle for one particular search engine. Even withrepparttar 108633 constantly evolving web, andrepparttar 108634 ever-tightening systems employed byrepparttar 108635 search engines to quantifyrepparttar 108636 usefulness of a website, content is still by farrepparttar 108637 most important factor, and will invariably formrepparttar 108638 base on which everything else is built. Be seen, be sold.

Dave Collins is the CEO of SharewarePromotions Ltd., a well established UK-based company working with software and shareware marketing activities, utilising all aspects of the internet. http://www.sharewarepromotions.com and http://www.davetalks.com


Starting Your Own Part-Time Home-Based Business

Written by Stefanus Wahyudi


Continued from page 1

Your own part-time home-based business can generate passive income in several different ways. First and foremost, of course, it will generate passive income throughrepparttar sales your business makes. In addition, when you are ready to retire, you may be able to sell your business and investrepparttar 108596 proceeds to generate additional passive income during your retirement. Of course, you may find that your part time home based business takes very little time to run once it has been started. You may be able to generate excellent passive income with little effort on your part.

Of course, starting a part time home based business and getting it up and running does take time and effort. Generating passive income does take time, effort and investment, butrepparttar 108597 payoffs are enormous. Not only will running your own business help you understand howrepparttar 108598 economy works while providing you with a good passive income, but you will be able to use your free time to enjoy an excellent quality of life with your family and friends. Running your own business always has been and always will berepparttar 108599 best road to financial freedom.



Stefanus Wahyudi has started his part-time home-based business since his college years. Now, he is encouraging many to do the same: Start Early!, as he truly believes that it is the best way to your financial freedom. For more information about his business, you can access his system at: http://www.RetireYounger.com


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