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Where has my Pagerank gone?
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Back in October many webmasters were panicking as Google apparently reduced the Pagerank of millions of websites. Pandemonium ensued as many webmasters worried themselves sick as to why this had happened and how they could restore their glorious Pagerank back to their website.
So why did this happen?
First lets take a look at Pagerank and how it is calculated. Pagerank is understood to be calculated according to the number and quality of incoming links to a website. It's a complex formula that only Google knows, also taking into account the importance of the page that the link originates from. Pagerank is calculated on a scale of 1 to 10 but it is not a linear scale ie getting from 8 to 9 is a lot, lot harder than getting from 7 to 8.Other factors it is also thought to include are ones such as the authority and trust of a website.
Pagerank is wrongly believed by many webmasters to be the main critical factor that determines their search engine ranking positions ( SERPS). In reality there are a huge amount of factors that Google looks at to determine the SERPS, Pagerank is just one of them although it can be a deciding factor if all other things are equal.
The result over the last few years has turned many webmasters into Pagerank junkies. They obsess about their Pagerank, about getting links from other sites with higher Pagerank, they decline to link to sites with lower Pagerank etc etc. This has led to a whole industry of websites buying and selling links according to the Pagerank of the link page. And this is what has infuriated sleeping dragon over at Google.
It has been rumoured that this readjustment of the Pagerank scores is due to Google penalising websites that are involved in the purchasing and selling of text links, with the main aim of passing on Pagerank and hence improving their SERPS.
Also it is suspected that sites have lost Pagerank due to bad linking, broken linking and other general errors. The thought behind this is to do with Trust and Authority - Google thinks that a site with broken links and links to "bad neighbourhoods" is not one that should get a high trust score.
So was this the definitive reason for the Pagerank meltdown?
Unlikely, as it is not believed that this was the sole underlying reason, as various sites were affected that had no involvement in buying or selling links. It is more probable that this was a complete overhaul or readjustments of Google's Pagerank scoring systems, which has led to a complete broad reassessment. The fact that so many experts point to the trading of links as a reason, is a theory that Google are probably pleased to let us believe. Basically, they do not like the buying and selling of links for the purposes of increasing SERPS, so they're happy for us to believe that they've applied penalties to this which they hope will then deter webmasters from doing this in future. The true reasons will probably never be known.
How can you increase your sites pagerank?
- Initially you should continue to engage in an ongoing link building campaign, getting links from websites of a similar nature to yours. Do not worry about pagerank.
- Avoid certain practices that Google frown upon such as buying and selling of text links. Should you purchase text links for any other reason than to improve pagerank, check that the no follow tag is inserted in the link. Take into account though that it is much safer to avoid them totally.
- Make sure your site has no broken links - including links to other sites, and does not link to sites that may be considered bad , such as spammy sites and those involved in selling text links.
There are too many urban myths concerning Pagerank and the reality is it is not the "be all and end all". Just concentrate on optimising your site and building incoming links, getting good content and applying a good relevant theme to your website and let everyone else stress about Pagerank. At the end of the day, it just isn't that important.
About the Author
Robin Porter is CEO of UK web design company Arpey Internet, which specialises in small business web design and helping small businesses get more business online.
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