Google Pagerank Tips

Reciprocal linking and linking guidelines

You should link to another site because it provides quality content complementary to your own, enhances and helps your visitors, propagates your "brand", and has the potential to provide both you and your link partner with targeted traffic. I've been using this criteria for a number of months on this site with absolutely no regard to PR. The net result is my Google traffic is up over 100% and so are my PageViews and unique visitors. Our own Barter/Trade Links Forum has provided thousands of Webmasters with link partners, which enhances both parties targeted traffic.

Their are no shortcuts or tricks to this procedure. You need to examine the other site, reject "Link Farms", "Off-Site Link Services", "TopSites", and any site who has a "links" page which does not branch from the sites home page. What about "bad neighborhood" sites which have a gray PR bar? If you take my advice and spend the time to visit the other site, you will spot some of these "Spam" kings and reject them without the use of the Toolbar. If a few slip through, don't worry. I have no evidence and neither do you that Google will ban your site for linking to an unrelated "Spam" site nor am I concerned because I spend the time to examine the site using the criteria I mentioned.

What is the value of PageRank?

Google uses PR in it's Directory listings. The default listings in a given Category is initially sorted by PR. This Directory uses data from ODP (Open Directory Project) which is also known as DMOZ. You can't determine the actual PR number but you can view the PR bar and ballpark the number. I consider this PR sort of limited value. Given the fact that most surfers don't drill through the Directory to reach your site. On this site, only about 15% of the Google referrals originate from the Directory. Does Google update these sorted PR listing? The evidence is inconclusive.

Want some proof to support the claim that PR may in fact never change in the Directory? My longtime friend, Ryan Adams, of ClickQuick fame used to have a fantastic site but because of time constraints, the site has not been updated or any page changed in over 1.5 years. ClickQuick is still listed as number 3 in the Google Directory with a PR6 and as one of his link partners, I can tell you that traffic from my old link on his home page has experienced a 400% reduction. Perhaps this is an isolated incidence as I have other examples where new sites move up in PR and eventually reach the sorted list as not all sites are sorted by PR. My point is that a higher listing in the Google Directory because of your sites PR is still of little concern/value and you can and should improve your site for Google with new content, rather than obsessing over PR.

Have you ever wondered why the PR number is not available in the Directory (even though the data is fetched) and why you must use the Google "Advanced Features" Toolbar, which tracks your surfing habits to obtain the PR number? I don't read minds but this procedure is a mystery to me. Is this a marketing ploy to collect your surfing habits to enhance the advertising sales of Google? I don't think so, since so few surfers actually use the Advanced Features Toolbar. Frankly, the small percent of folks who use this version of the Toolbar are SEO geeks and very teckie Webmasters. My own surveys of regular surfers indicate 90% of them never use the Advanced Features Toolbar and never use a PR value as a criteria on bookmarking the site and making it one of their favorite stops.
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