Google Page Rank is the number or score assigned to each of your websites pages. Google Page Rank is a key metric to monitor but should not be the main focal point of an SEO Campaign. About a month ago Google made a major change to Webmaster Tools by removing all PageRank data.
“We’ve been telling people for a long time that they shouldn’t focus on PageRank so much; many site owners seem to think it’s the most important metric for them to track, which is simply not true,” states Moskwa. “We removed it because we felt it was silly to tell people not to think about it, but then to show them the data, implying that they should look at it.” (Source: WebProNews)
Many SEO’s believe that this move is Google’s way of trying to indirectly combat the rampant paid linking problem which Google created by introducing PageRank. In reality a good portion of the PageRank algorithm is based on links from external websites. My perspective is that anyone with a little know-how can build up a good page rank with effective link building. It is my opinion that the foundation of a search friendly site; the design, usability and overall optimization of said website is far more important.
Page Rank Won’t Drive Traffic
Let us say for instance that the goal of your website(s) is to sell products. To do this you need customers. Page rank won’t bring you customers if your customers can’t find you which is why I stress solid keyword research and thorough page optimization in front of page rank. A site needs to show up for the terms people are searching for.
Once they find you, having a clean design and easy to use website will keep your customers on your sites and hopefully buying your products. If your site doesn’t make sense and is not intuitive to use then those potential customers are likely to go away frustrated and buy somewhere else and there is nothing your Google Page Rank can do to change that.
When I search the web I frequently find websites in the #1 search listing that have a lower Page Rank than the subsequent competitive listing. Just because you have a PR4 doesn’t mean you can’t get beat in the SERP’s by competing sites with a PR3 or lower. With that said, I like to view page rank as more of a success indicator not the driving force behind an SEO campaign.
A Good Foundation Will Foster A Good Page Rank
So instead of focusing on your Google Page Rank, focus on building a good clean website that is search engine friendly, user friendly and intuitive. Perform thorough keyword research, optimize it and be proactive with a long term SEO strategy. If you do all this a good page rank is sure to follow. And remember that in the big picture page rank simply measures the quantity and quality of the links pointing to your website.
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