A Different Spin On PageRank Linking Strategy

A lot of web publishers believe that the best way to gain a high PageRank, or PR, is to entice highly ranked sites to link to them. The theory is that if a high ranking site links to you, it shares its PageRank. This sounds great on the surface, but there more to it than that.

The fact of the matter is that Goolge's algorithm that determines PageRank sets a different formula for how much PR can be passed on. It states that a page can only pass on its PageRank divided by the number of outbound links it has. This basically translates into the results expected from gaining links not quite being as beneficial as a lot of publishers might think.

This, in a nutshell, means that if you managed to get a site with a PR of 8 to link to you, you won't get a ranking of 8 or even close to it. For example, if this site already has 3 outgoing links and you make 4, the PR passed to each site would be 2 units, rather than 8. On top of this, the high PageRank is very likely on the site's home page, not its internal links page, where your link would appear. The PR that's passed on depends only on the PR of the page where the link appears.

Now, if you consider all those big hitting sites out there with great PR rates, but hundreds of outbound links competing for a slice of the pie, it becomes clear that they aren't necessarily the best to target for reciprocal links.

A better way does exist. It involves targeting sites that have modest PR ratings, but that are likely to improve. As long as the sites have good content and are reputable, they can pay off very well. Targeted lower PageRank sites might not seem like a good strategy, but it is.

There are a variety of reasons why these sites can work better in the long run. The top is the fact it is simply generally much easier to get a lower PageRank site to put outbound links on it. These sites are also very likely to agree to put links on their front pages and they might even go along with using keywords in them that can help with Google. In addition, these sites probably don't have a ton of outbound links. While all of these reasons are very appealing, the most intriguing might be the potential these sites have to grow their PageRank and yours along with them. If good sites are chosen, the potential can be rather high.

When selecting sites to target, avoid those that have a PageRank bar that's white or gray. This is an indication that the site has no ranking whatsoever or that is has been banned. Gray sites can actually have a negative impact.

Should you still be on the fence about this strategy, look at the numbers. If an incoming link comes from a page with a ranking of 8 and only has one other link, you'll get a PR boost of 4. A page with a ranking of 6 with a total of 30 links, yours included, will give you .2. The math clearly indicates that the lower PageRank strategy is best.

Article Source: http://www.a1-optimization.com/articles

About the author: Jeff Alderson develops pay-per-click and search engine program. He is an expert on boosting traffic and sales. Jeff suggests building a profitable keyword list using his Ad Word Analyzer program to increase website income.
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