The buzz of excitement – and disappointment – around the blogosphere these few days are so real that whenever you’re blog hopping, the subject of Google PR Update keeps popping out. You’ll hear all the “cheers” and the “moans”. Some argued that whether it’s really worth the excitement.
To each his own, for me getting a PR is a recognition of all the hard SEO work I have done to my blog. It’s not as if the cash register is going to ring anytime soon but it’s that sense of satisfaction that what you have learned and applied does pay off finally.
It’s sure a boost to your ego a little bit with the new status but when the excitement is over, the real task is much harder later. I’m in the belief that getting a PR is easy but maintaining it is a different ball game altogether. A good friend of mine, Mr. Piss Biscuit (you’ll love this guy) wrote how not to screw up and lose your PR.
One notable example is One Mans Goal which has been slapped with PR0 and I’m feeling bad about it as I’d like to see Marc doing well after all the ridicules he has received when he first bought the site. If you aren’t in the know who Marc is, here’s an interesting article about how Marc is fighting back (you’ll love her too).
If you are new to the blogging arena and wondering what’s the buzz about this little thing called Page Rank, read on.
What is Page Rank?
Google Pagerank or PR is a measure of any sites popularity based on Google kept-secret algorithm. The PR is an indication of certain authority to your site. One thing is certain is that your link popularity has the most significant importance in determining your PR. The theory is that the more backlinks you accumulate, the higher your PR is.
How it works is that Google will count how many external and internal links pointing to your site usually your main page and assign a rank from 1-10. The higher the rank, the more authority your site is. In case you have missed it, here’s the best places you can get quality backlink to jump start your link building and join the rank on the next update.
Jim from The Net Fool said
This ranking metric is very important for blogs for many reasons, including reader participation, advertising rates and industry reputation.
How did Google calculate PR?
The table below illustrates the approximate dependence of your page’s PR on the PR and quantity of pages that have links to it, and equivalence of a different number of pages with different PR.
* Approximate no. of links you need from pages with PR
[TABLE=2]
Source: TNX.net
For example, to get PR of 6 you need at least 555 links from PR 4 or one hundred links from PR 5. With the correct system of links to internal pages and main page within a site, you’ll get that PR much faster.
Disclaimer: The table above may be the most accurate calculation of how many backlinks you need to get that coveted PR but it’s sure a good benchmark to use for your link building.
Please remember as Jim from Jim Boykin’s Blog said
Getting a few of the right links, from the right places can be more valuable than getting 100 links from the wrong places.
Updated:
PR(A) = (1 – d) + d * SUM ((PR(I->A)/C(I))
Where:
- PR(A) is the PageRank of your page A.
- d is the damping factor, usually set to 0.85.
- PR(I->A) is the PageRank of page I containing a link to page A.
- C(I) is the number of links off page I.
- PR(I->A)/C(I) is a PR-value page A receives from page I.
- SUM (PR(I->A)/C(I)) is the sum of all PR-values page A receives from pages with links to page A..
We are celebrating Christmas in August here
If you aren’t already in the know, there will be contest coming up in a couple of days and here’s a teaser to the upcoming contest. Do check back in a day and two, I’ll promise you this is the one contest you’ll probably wouldn’t want to miss.
Cheers
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I don’t think this is still applicable. Google PageRank algorithm is so weird. It is sometimes in website quality, link popularity, backlinks, or whatsoever it is. I got several linkback from PR4 and yet I still have PR0
Hussein | Random Blog’s last blog post..Sunday Link Love #1
@Hussein | Random Blog – I could hear you moaning about it everywhere you go. Yes, it’s not the most accurate formula to get a PR, there are many other factors to consider apart from backlinks but it’s a good benchmark to follow. I’m sure you’ll get it soon.
I wonder what would you say if you have that PR….
@ Yan: Thank God for a new post! holy smokes! No I wasn’t actually talking about you either, your site was not the worst offender on the list, but over the past two or three days… it was getting close :-)
I love these types of little updates they change the pace of things… much needed. Good job and thanks for the awesome link!
Piss Biscuit’s last blog post..5 Great Ways to Lose Page Rank
This is one heck of a post! I really enjoyed reading through it (thanks for link back) because you have everything from what it is, to how to get a higher PR, to how to get a LOWER PR, and even the classic chart of linking power.
Great work, I’m looking forward to more :)
Hi Yan, thanks for the link :)
That’s a very good explanatory article on page rank. Really well laid out.
Like Hussein, I think there is much more to PR than this, but as The Net Fool says, it still covers loads of good stuff which many beginner bloggers do not know about.
Great stuff!
zania’s last blog post..Does Page Rank Help You Make Money Online?
Great post. The recent google page rank update was the one I was most involved with. I purchased a few new domains since the last update. Sady most of them didn’t get much of a boost but some that were unranked are at least ranked now which is awesome. I hope my SEO hardwork pays off like yours.
Chris Hornak’s last blog post..Promote Your Pittsburgh Business
@Piss Biscuit – Though my work revolves around the computer, it’s kind of tough to keep the posting frequency on schedule, as always. But it was a timely reminder from you, PB. No, I was just joking on my comment as I knew you weren’t.
@Jim – Glad you drop by and thanks for the encouraging words. I’ll do better next time and with you watching over my back, how could I not to?
@Zania – You are most welcome, lady and thanks for the compliment. I certainly agree with both of you that there are more factors within the formula to derive Google algorithm. Link popularity is one of them and it’s something beginners can easily understand.
@Chris Hornak – You have really been humble about it, Chris. I just came back from your site and you seems to be giving SEO advice on your site.
Thanks for visiting. I’m sure you have tons of knowledge about SEO and since this is the subject of my interest, do come in often and share your experience with the readers here.
Till we meet again and have a nice day.
Yan thanks a lot for this explanation.
Then that could also suggest, commenting on and discussions on freshly new articles (those having none PR yet) will help the PR down the road when these articles gain their own PR. Secondly, these individual articles then must have incoming links to receive a better PR.
“A Page Rank Ball Rolling Like A Pyramid System”, r. :)
pizza oven’s last blog post..Vegetable relish spread rediscovery
@Rado – I’m not too sure if commenting in dofollow blogs is going to get you that PR but if you are on the top of the list when the top commentator plugin is in place and it is of higher PR than you, I’m pretty sure about it.
If my mind serves me well, I got 2 links back from a PR5 blogs for two consecutive months and I conclude that may be one of the reasons (apart from other SEO tweaks) I got myself a PR3 and some of the inner pages that have been linked internally are getting PR 2.
Thanks for sharing your input too, Rado and I hope you are on your way to the big 5.
Wow, a well thought out, researched, article… how rare that actually is.
@Nick – Thanks for the compliment. You have a nice PR5 on your blog and how I wish I could put you to the list of PR blogs but then on a second thought, we are of different niche.
Hey, thanks for visiting and hope to see you again, Nick. Perhaps once in a while, you’d like to share your experience with us here. See you again…
Hi Yan,
Great post as usual. In looking at the table it looks accurate to me because I got my PR2 just by getting a few high PR links. I think when this excitement goes away, we will just focus on link building and get high SE ranking. The PR is just a bonus thrown in for you.
Peter Lee
@Peter – Though the table may not be so accurate, the theory of getting high PR links will improve your PR is ever so true. It is certainly a good benchmark for link building. Welcome back, Peter.
Excellent page rank tutorial. What’s interesting is how page rank works together with keywords and the other hidden factors in the algorithm to produce the final result. And that is what most are after when it comes to search engine rankings – the final result.
Excellent Post Yan!
Information is Power
This is an awesome post, Yan!
Makes me happy to see your blog lifting off
EmmaB’s last blog post..Link Love, Updates and other Stuff
Yan,
The google pr algorithm is like a black box. Google try very hard to not let anybody know all the parameters used to calculate PR.
Nihar’s last blog post..NiharsWorld has got PageRank 3!
@Colin – Glad you find it useful and thanks for the input as well. Where have you been, Colin? Haven’t seen you for a while? Hope everything is fine with you.
@Larry – Hey pal. Did you say ‘Information is Power’? Absolutely, but I’m still powerless..:-) Thanks for your comment.
@EmmaB – Gal, you make my day, you have always been very supportive of me and this blog as a whole. I see that you are doing fine with UTOW too. I wish you good.
@Nihar – Oh certainly so, you will never know the actual algorithm the big G is using. It’s its best kept-secret. The above is just a reference or a benchmark to follow. It’s like you can’t shoot not knowing where’s the bull eye. Thanks for sharing your input.
I think Back links are just one of the many criterias that are considered while calculating the PR. The number of pages & quality of the contents in those pages also play a vital role in deciding the PR of a site. I know few bloggers whose PR’s have come down due to decreased quality of contents in their site.
Pras’s last blog post..Rewarding the commenter’s with a DoFollow
@Pras – I hear you, Pras and I do agree. Thanks for sharing your knowledge here. I do hope the quality of this blog will get better each day. I’m pretty sure it will and I wish you the same..
Hi,
few days ago i have posted comments on some sites. before that my inlinks were 3 or 4. but 2 of the site are increasing my inlinks daily. i have only posted one comments on both of those two sites but inlinks from those two sites are now 200.
is it bad and if it is then how to remove my comments from those blogs because there is no option for that :(
Wow, great post Yan! I love it…though the formula made me think back to school days…and my eyes began to glaze over lol. I like the logic behind it.
I wonder, how does the outgoing links relate to the equation? Links in comments and such?
JK Swopes’s last blog post..Are you following Normal Joe?
@Joe – Hey, I wasn’t too sure whether to include the formula as I’m such a handicap when it comes to mathematical formula. That one looks too intimidating to me but I thought I share it with the readers here.
How the outgoing link relates to the equation? I’m not too sure about it myself, perhaps someone in the know would like to explain…
Congratulations on your PR ranking. All your hard work paid off!
For a noob blogger like me, all this talk about PR makes my head spin. Every time I think about PR, I think about Public Relations…
Grrr…yeah PR = Page Rank
:)
Avatar’s last blog post..Speed Reading – Part VI
Thanks for sharing about it. Not that it makes much sense, but still some knowledge is better than no knowledge I suppose.
I always want to know about this and I am kind of blurr. Even worst is the meta tag and meta description. Maybe you can write about it?
Sherry’s last blog post..Are you one of the Winner in Dr.Teeth Birthday Bash Contest
if having paid post the PR will goes down? Then will it goes up again?
Sherry’s last blog post..Are you one of the Winner in Dr.Teeth Birthday Bash Contest
@Rajiv – It’s good to take a look at the table and try to aim it and see where it will bring you on the next update.
@Sherry – Don’t worry too much on the meta tags. The thing that you really need to pay attention is your posting frequency and a little optimization of your blog’s title. You can do better than just having “iLUVcontest”. Try something like “The Blog Contest You’ll Love”.
yea its hard to get high PR but sometimes easy too :D
i got a site with PR 5 and is still holding the green after this update too … its easy to get good PR if we can maintain the quality as its hard to maintain the PR after that.
anyways Good Luck for ur blog ;)
Useful, interesting and well written as usual. I guess I will never get a page rank….sigh
carol’s last blog post..49 and Counting!
Hello Yan. Thanks for this post, i’m very enjoy to read it.
firdaus’s last blog post..Links for 2008-07-31 [del.icio.us]
@Carol – Well, if you blog for pleasure then PR is quiet irrelevant for you but never say “Never”. I hope to see you again, Carol.
@Firdaus – Hey, bro. Apa kabar? Thanks for your compliment and do come in again. You are from Indo?
@Yan there is a software that guys at Canober developed which uses the same formula. This is the location of that software
http://www.canober.com/blog/2008/06/using-googles-formula-to-predict-page-rank/
Cheers,
KP
Em Posts’s last blog post..Advantages of running one blog at a time
@Em Posts – Thanks for heads up. I’ll checking it out in a while. Did you enjoy the article?
Unfortunately, Google Pagerank just isn’t as important as most people think. For instance, I bet I can get more traffic to my site with a PR0 than most people can with a PR3 or whatever.
Also, I ended up with a PR1 and I didn’t really have any backlinks to my site until recent (after the PR update) so that’s not saying much on Google’s end :P
- AnotherMMOblog
Personally for my self I am less concerned about PR. I figure get traffic to my site and the PR will follow.
I have read on many forums that people are spending countless hours trying to increase their PR and less time creating quality content to attract/keep visitors.
Without traffic your PR is basically 0 in my opinion.
Brian’s last blog post..Domain Names And You
This is a great article but not something which I am cracking my mind about.
Google changes their algorithms all the time but you have given us a good reference to think about. I am more concerned about improving traffic to my blog right now.
jeflin’s last blog post..Overhead Supply Can Trap Your Money
great fomula, I might give that a try. :)
love reading your blog post, having read them so often as busy.
nice tips, I will try to use it to Improve my PR
I read somewhere that Google also takes the age of your domain/site into account when assigning PR.
Yeah I was moaning the last time Google updated their page rank. Anyways thanks for the detailed explanation of PR. Good information.
Gerald Weber´s lastest post..5 Free SEO Tools You’re Probably Not Using Yet
Thanks Yan. I’s wondering what to do to get a PR! Have been searching many directories. This gives me a pretty good idea. Thanks for the input!
Arun´s lastest post..Terrorist Attacks in India
Dear Yan Please Can You Give Me Example of Solve That Sum About Calculation of Page Rank….
Hey
Sorry I don’t really catch your question. Can you be more specific?
Yan
Of course, the linking is a MAJOR factor in page rank. However, Page Rank is a moot point. I’ve seen PR 0’s show up #1 for highly competitive keywords in major metropolitan areas. Content is King. Site architecture is pretty close behind. If you’ve got the few links from the hubs and keyword rich content, you’ll rank. And that’s what counts.
My PR is going up and that’s because of Inbound links…
My website is a PR0 and I show up all over the place. There’s over 200 factors in the Google PR analysis.
It is interesting but PR is stil a little confusing to me. But which source is the best to actually calculate your PR bcz I have calculated some before and it seems to be different to other places I have calculated the same PR!
Very interesting read. Just found this link fro another site! I never really understood the formula before.