SEO, PageRank and Link Value

All SEO professionals know how important it is to have a good page rank. Page rank is the indication of how important the search engine considers your page to be. There are certain basic factors based on which SE like Google ranks pages. The name PageRank itself is a trademark of Google and has been patented. How is the page rank assigned? Though it is generally true that primarily the incoming links to the webpage determines the ranking, one must remember that it is the value of the link that is of utmost importance. Thus quality matters more than sheer quantity. Here are Google's own words on PageRank:

"PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important"."

 

 

It is not that simple. How is it that a link's value is determined? Here is a list of all the different factors that can affect the value of the link.

  • Anchor Text of Link
  • External Links to Linking Page
  • Global Popularity of Site
  • Popularity / Trust of Site in Topical Community
  • Text Directly Surrounding the Link
  • Anchor Text of All Links to Site/Document
  • Location of Linking Page in Site Structure
  • Affiliations of Linking Site with Target Site
  • Existence of "Rel=Nofollow" tag
  • Text on Linking Page
  • Semantic Relationship of Linking Page
  • Age of Link
  • Additional External or Internal Links on Page
  • Shared IP Address or C-Block Address
  • Related Term Use in Linking Page
  • Rate of All External Links to Site/Document
  • Domain Extension
  • Link Relationships Between Sites
  • Existence of Link on Other Pages of Site
  • Rate of Content Changes to Linking Page
  • Location of Link on Page
  • Updates/Changes to Link
  • Visual Tags Affecting Link Text
  • Link Title

It is true that for optimizing ones site the practice of buying and selling of links from sites with higher rankings is a practice followed by SEO professionals. Webmasters have been publicly warned by Google that if found to be guilty of selling links the existing ranking will be devalued and advices the use of nofollow HTML attribute value on sponsored links.

The author of this article is Ricci Mathew of Outsource Strategies International (OSI) , a US based company that offers services in Search Engine Optimization , SEM, PPC advertising for clients across the US.

 

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