This explanation of link building is for newbies.

Link building is all about getting other webpages to publish a link back to one of your webpages.

The Reason You Want to Get Backlinks?

The more external links (links from other pages on the web) that point to one of your webpages the more kudos that page gets with the search engines. These external links are called backlinks because they point back to your webpage.

And the ultimate reason for developing a network of backlinks to your webpages is traffic. And traffic brings the doe.

There are two ways that backlinks bring you traffic. Sometimes a backlink will bring traffic directly to your website. But the other effect backlinks have is on the positioning of your page in google search results. The higher your page is placed in search results the more chance you have of getting search traffic.

So every one is looking for fast and magical ways to get lots of high quality backlinks. It is a way of influencing how important Google thinks your webpage is for a given topic.

Backlinks Effect Page Rank, Or So They Say!

When it comes to page rank, Google is the baseline and conventional guru-wisdom says: if you rank with google you’ll rank with the other search engines. So just focus on pleasing google and you’ll please every one else.

What do we mean when we talk about page rank?

Page rank is a value that Google assigns to a webpage. Page rank values range from 0 to 9. The higher the number the higher the page rank and PR0 (page rank zero), by the way, is a rank and it is better than no page rank!

Also when we talk about page rank we are talking about the rank of an individual webpage not a whole website. Google ranks webpages not websites. So you might have ten pages on your website and each page might have a different page rank.

Okay…so why is page rank so important?

Before I answer that question you also need to understand that page rank is assigned to a webpage for a given keyword or phrase. Google decides what a webpage is about when it indexes or adds the page to its inventory of pages. So whenever google assigns the page rank it assigns a page rank for the topic that it thinks the webpage speaks to.

So…as I mentioned earlier…the reason that page rank is seemingly so important is this: search traffic!

If you want people to find your website by searching with google (or bing or yahoo or…) then page rank becomes an issue. The higher a page ranks for a given search term the higher that webpage will appear in the search results. That’s the theory. And if your webpage appears in the top position on page 1 of google search results for a given keyword then you are in a coveted spot (assuming the keyword is valuable). The top spots get the most traffic!

Page rank is not a black and white reality. There are other factors at play. How relevant google thinks the content of your page is to the search subject is also a factor in where your page appears in the search results.

Going back to the subject of link building: google takes into account the number and quality of backlinks that are pointing to a given webpage when it calculates and assigns a page rank. Allegedly!

And more links is not necessarily better. Links that contain a relevant keyword are more valuable than poorly labelled links. And links from a page that itself ranks highly with google is more valuable than a number of links from other lowly ranked pages. Links from sites with a .gov or .edu extensions are thought to be a premium.

Think of page rank in terms of authority. A webpage that has a high page rank such as a PR8 or PR9 for a given keyword is considered an authority. So if that authority page contains a link back to your page and the link is on topic then it factors higher in googles page rank calculation for your page.

So just stop and think for a minute about this page that you are reading. What do you think this page is about? Is it about link building or page rank? What will google think this page is about? If you are going to link to this page (hint hint) what phrase would you use in your link?

Disclaimer

I could be completely wrong here in my explanation.

I have never ever found a complete and detailed explanation of page rank such as I’ve written on this page. And the reason I mention this: my explanation could be faulty. I don’t think it is but…I’m no guru.

All of the gurus who talk or write about page rank, they forget where they came from. They assume that you and I have the same background knowledge that they have and they fail to adequately explain the exact meaning or importance of page rank.

I have pieced together this understanding of page rank through various sources including very expensive courses on internet marketing and search engine optimisation and by asking page rank questions on various forums. My questions mostly go unanswered.

If only I could interview the illustrious and famous SEO geek Leslie Rohde. Surely he could allay once and for all my many questions and doubts about page rank!

What I know about page rank is this: it isn’t as relevant as search volume, competition, keyword relevance and quality backlinks. I have pages that appear in high positions on page 1 of google search results with only a PR0 and with just a few backlinks: high keyword demand and low competition. I also have pages with a PR3 lots of backlinks but that appear way down the list on page 20 of search results: high competition. The competing webpage that appears in the top spot has a lower page rank and less backlinks but lots of .gov (more authority) backlinks. In comparison, my page is not as keyword relevant as that top listed page.

My advice: learn how to research and pick profitable keywords for your business or chosen niche, find quality products, write good fat content, work hard to build a network of value-passing ¹ backlinks, do not spam and don’t worry about page rank.

Tagged as: Link Building