Is Page Rank important for Search Engine Optimisation?
Page rank used to be vitally important for SEO as it was an indicator of how Google viewed and positioned your website. However our friends at Google have told us that Page Rank no longer has a direct correlation to a website’s search ranking; however it does have a bearing on how much trust Google places on a particular domain. Logically, trusted domains rank higher which means that Page Rank is still somewhat important – however in of itself, Page Rank is not essential for SEO.
So, if you’re like me – somewhat old school and still obsessed with the need to have a website that meets all of Google’s criteria for optimal search rankings, then consider some of these tips to get your page rank up.
1. Remove Spam Links
The first thing to do is to remove any links that could be perceived to be spam as this can drastically harm your website’s overall ranking. This refers specifically to companies who have previously used SEO agencies and posted rogue content on linking websites – a strategy that many of us SEO guys used to use heavily – so watch out and check where your SEO provider is posting links! These sites now have absolutely no value for linking and can actually negatively impact the search results on your chosen key terms. If you want good rankings, focus your efforts on good quality, keyword-rich optimised content and think about strategic ways you can grow your links to those pages using social media and viral marketing techniques.
2. Invest in High Quality Back Links
Getting the right type of link is also vitally important to ensure increased page rank. The hyperlink must be on the targeted key term (eg: Surrey and South West London Bakers) and come from a reputable source, ie a website with a page rank higher than 1. Let’s take an example; Lets say your site doesn’t have any page rank but you are looking to build your website’s online search presence. The first thing to do is to get positive link traffic (or as we like to call it – ‘link juice’) from an existing page rank 1 website. You can do this by utilising many open source blogging sites such as blogspot or tumblr. Write your content and begin building your links. Leave comments on other associated blogs to get more links and search for .edu or .gov WordPress blogs to get a higher rank value.
Cumulatively, it is harder to get a PR2 site than it is a PR1, in the same way it is harder to reach PR3 than it is to reach PR2. By leveraging established PR1 links you should begin to grow to a PR2. Once you’re at this stage, the only way to increase your site’s Page rank is by blogging and using social links to get the extra “juice” needed to push you up the rankings.
3. Use Press Site to boost your link value
Utilising press releases with long tail-key phrases in will help you considerably, so look to use sites such as PRlog and MyNewsDesk that are free and won’t post your content onto spam sites.
In conclusion, remember that page rank is not the be all and end all of search marketing. Think content, content and content and you won’t be far off for the future of SEO. For more information about SEO and optimisation best practise, check out our pages to learn how to rank higher.