What is important for page rank?
-
I have heard quality is the most important factor for page rank but after the 7 Nov 11 PR update I am no longer a believer. The PR on my home page dropped from 4 to 3 and the rest of my inside pages remained the same even though I have added a significant amount of content since the previous update and kept it fresh. Any thoughts on this most recent PR update?
-
Keep in mind that "quality" is a difficult term at best, and even if you could pin down a definition of quality, Google still has to translate that (imperfectly) into code. There are a lot of factors that go into determining the value of a link. Rand had a good post on the subject here:
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/10-illustrations-on-search-engines-valuation-of-links
Many of these aren't even quality issues, per se. For example, if you have a blog comment on a high PR page, but you're 1 of 300 comments, that links isn't going to count much. You could argue that's a quality issue, but it's also just simple math - the PR of that page just got split 300+ ways. Even if every single comment was relevant and topically appropriate, it wouldn't count much.
There's also TrustRank (we simulate it with mozTrust), the recent Panda factors, and other quality variables - they all tackle a different piece of the puzzle. Then, you've got user factors, like bounce rate, that are probably starting to come into play. So, I don't think you can just look at it as Quality vs. PR - there's a lot more in play.
Edit: Sorry, I was reading this as "link quality", not the quality of the site itself. There's no either/or - both content factors (including on-page factors like good Title tags) and link factors matter, along with social factors these days. The best approach is going to tackle all fronts.
-
There are different viewpoints on outbound links. Reliance on link exchange is outdated, and Google is known to frown on anything resembling a link farm. However, I have seen people cite Matt Cutts (sorry, don't have any links to back this up) as saying it is beneficial to have some outbound links to reputable sites.
To be honest I recommend you focus on site performance rather than PR - are you ranking/getting traffic/converting? PR may slightly increase the likelihood of you ranking but it doesn't guarantee it and it doesn't put money in the bank. I recommend this Whiteboard Friday from August to help you put PR into perspective http://www.seomoz.org/blog/what-is-googles-pagerank-good-for-whiteboard-friday
-
I have noticed that some of the sites that I link to also lost some PR so perhaps this is why. I have added links since the last update but most of them had good page and domain authority with average PR. I did also remove outbound links from my home page to authoritative sites on the advice of someone. Perhaps I should add these back? The only other reason I have been given is that google is penalizing sites that have reciprocal links with others sites (just a few) from my home page. Does this make sense?
-
PR is not as important as keyword ranking and traffic.
-
PR is related to your link profile rather than being a direct measurement of site quality (although better site quality makes it easier to get good links). It sounds as though you have either lost links or some of your links have reduced in value (either by linking domains losing links themselves or by their outgoing links being devalued because the domain has been identified as spammy). Try this for an explanation of Page Rank http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Need help on declining page rank
Hi Guys,
On-Page Optimization | | Slideuplift123
We had a consistent page ranking for a specific keyword between 5 and 8 positions on google. This week all of a sudden the page which was ranking for that keyword no longer ranks for it and another page has started ranking for that keyword that too at 20th position. I am so confused why has this happened? I didn't do any changes to that page or to the now ranking page. Can anyone help why could this be happening?0 -
How is this page ranking?
Hi. A client of mine is being outranked by a competitor whose landing page does not include the keyword within their page content AT ALL. Nor does their URL. Nor do any image alts. And their page title features the keyword in the middle of it, not at the start. Their link profile is not great with directories and the like. They are not socially active.. I am confused! I thought content on a page absolutely had to include the keyword to get ranked for it. Here's the page: www.springsoft.ie, keyword is "water softeners" Any thoughts I would appreciate. Many thanks.Christoffa
On-Page Optimization | | Christoffa0 -
What kind of pages are they?
Hi all, after making an analysis of my website the tool has found two pages that I don't know what refers to: /?page id=2058 (only one page of this kind) /?attachment id= (only one page of this kind) does anyone know what kind of pages they could be? Do the have relevancy regading SEO? The plattform is Wordpress. Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | juanmiguelcr0 -
301 to Intermediate Page then Rel=Canonical from Intermediate to target page
Hi I'm working on an eCommerce site and don't have direct access to the CMS. I had requested developers to provide me a facilty to 301 via htaccess however this is working slight differently. I need guidance from experts whether it's okay or not: Old Page: example.com/old Target New Page: example.com/new After Implementing the redirect, It redirects to an intermediate page or in other words, The same target URL with a question mark added: example.com/new? (notice the question mark in the new URL) This intermediate page has a canonical tag for the exact target URL. So, if I 301 redirect example.com/old to example.com/new? (Intermediate page) and If the intermediate page example.com/new? has a canonical tag for the exact target URL (example.com/new), Will I be able to pass the link juice and authority of old page to the new page?
On-Page Optimization | | Ankkesh0 -
Keywords & ranking
I am working for a social networking site called Yookos. Much our content is user-generated. How can i add keywords onto the site to make sure our site appears in the SERPS? Also what techniques can i use to make our social site rank highly? Do the other SEO techniques apply here?
On-Page Optimization | | seoworx1230 -
Your thoughts on page navigation
Hi again SEOmoz community. What are your thoughts on mainpage navigation. How it should be handled? Scenario 1. - links to the main sections with a mouse rollover feature where it shows subsections of the main sections Scenario 2. - links to the main sections, but the subsections are hidden and only visible on the click Scenario 3. links to the main sections and subsections allways visible I would like to hear you oppinions on this. What did you find as the best featrue, or did you try to find someting new entirely. What do you think would be the best scenario SEO wise and in the light of keeping links on page in decent numbers 🙂 Imo, Scenario 2 is the option to go with. Tnx in advance for all your replys. Sincerely, sinisa
On-Page Optimization | | TataSinke0 -
Page architecture
We have some good content on our site, particularly relating to UK employment law. One section on unfair dismissal is split into 9 pages - there is a fair amount of legal detail. The question is whether we should combine it all into one "mother of all unfair dismissal" page just to satisfy the Google monster or keep in as it is. Some of the individual pages rank on page 1 already. If we change the architecture are 301 redirects the best way to handle the changing urls? The other more important issue is whether it is easier to read it all on one page or split it. Keeping G happy may not actually keep our users happy. As the content is quite dense we want to ensure we don't overload people. Any thoughts appreciated.
On-Page Optimization | | dexm100 -
If I want to rank well on one keyword would it be better to optimize multiple pages on the website for the keyword or should I only optimize one page for that keyword?
If I want to rank well on one keyword would it be better to optimize multiple pages on the website for the keyword or should I only optimize one page for that keyword?
On-Page Optimization | | CustomOnlineMarketing0