The Weight of Google PageRank in Ranking
by Andy Beal
As Google continues to reign as the top search engine
referral source, we all continue to check our PageRank (Download the
Google Toolbar to view a web page's PageRank score). SEOs and webmasters
scramble to increase their PageRank to a respectable score, anything
above a 5, as we continue to analyze the workings of Google's PageRank
calculation and its weight within the ranking algorithm.
It is not a mystery that PageRank has a fairly large
role in Google's ranking, but how much weight? Are there other variables
that outweigh PageRank? Below we will discuss how much weight is given
to PageRank, if PageRank alone is enough to rank, and more. The Google
algorithm takes many things into account when ranking web pages. Some
of the variables for ranking in Google are:
- Page Title
- Link text
- PageRank
- Heading Tags
- ALT Tags
- Domain names
- Filenames
- Directory names
- Link popularity
- Keyword density
The weight that PageRank is assigned within Google's
algorithm has always been debated, and will continue to be as the algorithm
changes from month to month. Google does not stick with one algorithm
like other search engines. Instead, Google switches between a few different
algorithms from month to month.
One of the main reasons that the weight assigned to
PageRank is debated is because it is not uncommon to see a website with
a lower PageRank outranking a website with a higher PageRank. When we
see this, it means three things:
1) PageRank is not the most important factor in Google's
rankings algorithm
2) a properly optimized website with an average PageRank
can outrank a non-optimized website with a high PageRank, and
3) the on-page variables play a larger role in Google
ranking than most tend to think.
We have seen evidence of web pages with a PageRank of
4 and 5 ranking higher than web pages with a PageRank of 8. The website
with the PageRank of 5 was highly optimized and utilized all of the
variables that Google takes into account when calculating rank. The
website with a PageRank of 8, although carrying some of the SEO basics,
was not highly optimized.
This is what happens to many corporate websites. The
website ends up being awarded a high PageRank as a result of the high
amount of websites linking to them, but they end up being outranked
as a result of the lack of search engine optimization. When a website
has a PageRank of 8 or above, it will not take a high level of optimization
to obtain top rankings within Google. PageRank is not the end-all-be-all
of ranking within Google.
One of the reasons is that PageRank is easily manipulated.
For example, recently we are seeing companies selling links from websites
with high PageRank. For this reason and others we realize that the PageRank
calculation is not perfect. Therefore, Google cannot rely on a flawed
concept for their algorithm - having a website's score play a role in
its ranking is fine, but the score should not be the basis of this calculation.
If you design or optimize your website properly, remembering
all of the on-page variables and criteria, you can set yourself up for
success. Once you have completed this task and your site has entered
the ranks, you will realize if you need to increase your PageRank to
battle in Google's search engine results pages.
About the Author: Andy Beal is Vice President of
Marketing for Keyword
Ranking, specialists in search engine marketing. Highly respected
as a source of search engine optimization advice, Andy has had articles
published around the world. Under his guidance, Keyword Ranking has
grown to become one of the larger and more successful search engine
marketing companies. They were one of the first companies to offer guaranteed
levels of success using spam-free methods.
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