PageRank (PR) is one of
most important concepts in Internet marketing. It is widely considered as
most important factor in
Google search relevancy algorithm that determines ranking of websites on Google’s search results. Having a high PageRank is a must if you wish to attract visitors or customers to your website.The PageRank principle is simple
The higher
PR of your site
higher will be its search engine position. So
goal is to get lots of sites linking to your site. But quality is much more important than quantity. The higher
PR of
sites that link to yours
more they boost your sites PR.
When planning your effort, always remember than one link from a PR-6 or PR-7 site is worth indefinitely more than hundreds of links from PR-0 or PR-1 sites.
In addition, you should aim to include your link on pages with as few other links as possible. Pages with over 25 links have little value. Additional factors that go into
algorithm include
amount of different sites that point to yours (10 links from 10 different sites count much more than 10 links from
same site) and
inclusion of your keywords in
text of
links.
As a general rule of thumb, a one-way, high PageRank link will give your site a PR two points below that of
linking page. So a link from a PR-8 site should get your site a PR-6. However, at
lower end of
scale, I have seen a PR-5 turn a new PR-0 site into a PR-4.
The effects of having a high PageRank (PR)
Most industries, market niches and business sectors only have a PR5 or PR6 site as
top ranking result. The implication is that you can dominate a niche or local market on search engines without investing too much money or time. For example, you can buy keyword rich text links on networks of sites that have a PR of 8-9 for $ 500-2,000 a month. Doing this is likely to get you a PR of 6 or 7 right out
gate. The implication is that your site will appear as number one when users search Google for key phrases related to your market niche.
Where to start
Before starting to actually work on improving your PR, be sure to install
Google Toolbar on your browser. The Toolbar shows a value (on a log scale) of 0-10 for each website that corresponds to
underlying PR of that page. The average website with little or no marketing support is typically PR1 to PR3. Google is updating
PR level it displays in
Google Toolbar about once every three months so patience is required until you can see
results of any PR building campaign.
Since PR is all about links you’ll have to know who already links to you. You can either use
Google Toolbar by selecting "Backward Links" or type in Google “link:www.yourpage.com”
The easy ways
There are two easy ways to get a site with high PageRank:
Buy one – at any given time there are thousands of websites offered for sale on ebay and other sites with moderately high PR. You can buy one in an industry of your choosing and adapt it to your needs. When your site is new you will have a PR of 0. But that’s not a problem if you, or a close friend, own another site with a high PR. Lets say
other site has a PR5 website. If you link to your new site from all
pages of
high PR site, then
new site would automatically get at least a PR4. If you don’t own a high PR site and neither do your friends, don’t worry. There are other options. Buy Links with High PageRank
You can easily buy PR buy renting text links from sites that have high PR. Links can be acquired through numerous intermediary sites such as Linkadage, Linkauctions or Text-Link-Ads. Typical rates for high PR links are:
PR5 text link: $7-20/mo. PR6 text link: $25-$50/mo. PR7 text link: $65-$100/mo. PR8 text link: $100-200/mo. PR9 text link: $ 700-1300/mo But buying links is best if used as a short term strategy to support a campaign for several months. For long terms purposes, move away from
pay for high PR links and seek other methods such as high quality reciprocal link partners, directory listings or improved content. Directory Links
The most popular directories are Yahoo and DMOZ. But paying $ 299 a year for inclusion in Yahoo’s directory is usually not a wise investment since too many sites are listed in each page and
PR benefit you’ll receive is inadequate. Inclusion in
DMOZ is free and important but unfortunately most sites get rejected or ignored.
You should seek those directories that have a high PR on their homepage but more important also on
category that interests you. The PR your website will receive from inclusion on these directories is also a function of
number of other links on
page where your site’s link will appear. The fewer links,
higher
PR you will receive. So your top priorities are directories with high PR and few other links in
relevant category page. Visit Directoryarchives to find lists of niche directories to submit your link.
Some of
older directories have over time built up a PR6 or PR7. But
smaller and newer directories typically buy their PR through text links ads on more popular sites. In turn they typically charge a $ 25-40 registration fee. Some of these newer directories have smaller category structures which mean that you may buy a link that will deliver a PR4 or PR5 that may last many years for that one time fee.
Copy your Competitors
It's quite easy to find out where your competitors get their links from. If you don’t know who your top competitors are, all you have to do is query Google for
main key phrases in your market and
result page will list your top competitors. Next, Visit
homepage of each competitor, and in
Page Info dropdown box of
Google Toolbar, select "Backward Links". You will then see a list of pages that link to
page you are visiting. It won't list every page, but will list all
ones worth getting a link from. Write down
URLs linking to each competitor and continue until you have some one hundred URLs from about 10 competitors. Than, send a personalized email to
owner or webmaster of each of these sites requesting a link or a reciprocal link.