PageRank has been all the rage since Google first introduced that little green line on the Google toolbar. Links are bought and sold at a premium based on how far that little green bar stretches to the right.
But is it really wise to pay a premium for links on high PageRank pages? Are sites with the highest PageRank the ones that are ranking better in Google?
I decided to test that theory, so I ran 500 very competitive keywords through Google and checked the PageRank of each of the top 10 ranking sites for each set of keywords.
Here’s the average PageRank for the top 10 ranking sites across the board:
1. 6.722
2. 6.866
3. 6.292
4. 6.234
5. 5.968
6. 5.88
7. 5.73
8. 5.662
9. 5.656
10. 5.604
Now, just looking at the averages, you might say, “wow, I guess high PageRank sites do rank better!” And you wouldn’t be entirely wrong for saying that. Yes, overall, sites with higher PageRank are ranking better in Google.
But the question is: is it the PageRank that’s causing the high ranking, or is it something else? I decided to dig a little further and find out.
Here is a list of the number of times for each ranking position that the ranking site has a lower PageRank than the site beneath it in the results. For example, if a site with PageRank 5 ranks #3 for a set of keywords, and the site ranking #4 has a PageRank higher than 5, that adds one to #3 in this list.
1. 155
2. 133
3. 148
4. 152
5. 167
6. 178
7. 165
8. 187
9. 178
So about one-third of the time sites are outranking other sites with higher PageRank, demonstrating that higher PageRank doesn’t always win.
Here is a list of the number of times for each ranking position that the ranking site has a PageRank at least 3 points lower than the site beneath it in the results. For example, if a site with PageRank 4 ranks #3 for a set of keywords, and the site ranking #4 has a PageRank of 7 or higher, that adds one to #3 in this list.
1. 85
2. 64
3. 68
4. 55
5. 64
6. 65
7. 60
8. 72
9. 62
So (roughly) 14% of the time sites are outranking other sites that have a PageRank a full 3 points higher than theirs. Google must be looking at something else to rank these sites.
Let’s take a look at a few specific example of this happening, then I’ll talk about why this is possible.
As of this writing, the site that ranks #7 on Google for the phrase “play games” is playrelax.com. This site has a PageRank of 4. Care to guess what ranks #8 for the phrase? Yahoo! Games — a site with a PageRank of 8!
Let’s take a very competitive phrase as another example. As of this writing, the site that ranks #4 on Google for the phrase “airline tickets” is traveldiscounters.com. This site has a PageRank of 5. The site that ranks #5 is travel.aol.com, with a PageRank of 7.
One more example, just for fun. As of this writing, the site that ranks #1 on Google for the phrase “newspaper obituaries” is newspaperobituaries.net. This site has a PageRank of 4. The site that ranks #2 is legacy.com, with a PageRank of 7!
Are you stunned? Does it seem amazing to you that a site with a PageRank of 4 can beat out a PR7, or even a PR8 site, ranking ahead of the much higher PR sites in Google?
Don’t be stunned. It’s not really amazing.
To understand why this happens, you need to understand how a site gets PageRank. A high PageRank can be achieved two ways:
1. Getting a lot of links from low PageRank pages.
2. Getting a few links from high PageRank pages.
So if you got a million links from low PR pages, you’re going to have a high PageRank, or if you get a few links from very high PR pages, you’re going to have a high PageRank.
But you see, it’s not the PageRank of a site or page that Google focuses on primarily when ranking a site for a set of keywords. It’s the keywords that those links contain that is of the greatest value in Google’s algorithm.
For example, the PR4 site (playrelax.com) has 1,231 links (according to Yahoo!), whereas Yahoo! Games has a boatload of links (1,212,619). How is it possible that playrelax.com is winning the game if it has so few links in comparison?
I can gurantee you that most of the links pointing to Yahoo! don’t contain the keywords “play games” as often as they do in the links pointing to playrelax.com (and many of Yahoo! Games links come from their own site). But the owner of the other site, playrelax.com, probably realizes that in order to out-rank the others, his site must have links that contain the right keywords. He gets the right kind of links, and he wins the game.
No doubt this is the case with almost all of the lower PR sites that are beating out their higher PR competition.
Now, generally speaking, the sites with higher PageRank are focusing on the keywords in their links, which is why (on average) higher PageRank sites are holding the top positions. But this is not always the case. As I said, about one out of three ranking sites have a lower PageRank than the sites they are out-ranking.
So does PageRank matter? No, not really. What matters is that you get quality links from other sites that contain the keywords you want to rank for. Do that, and you might just find your site outranking the big boys, too.
I and hundreds of others are using 3WayLinks.net to get the right kind of links and rank our sites, and at a price that won’t break the bank!
Source : jonathanleger.com
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