Running The Race...And Winning

What Is PageRank?

PageRank refers to the number a web page is given by a search engine in attempt to quantify the importance of the web page and determine its placement in search results. The importance of the page is determined by the links from one page to another. Effectively, the greater number of genuine links to and from Page X, the greater the importance of Page X.

PageRank was originally developed by the founder of Google, Larry Page, at Stanford University, and was subsequently named after him. The application was patented by Stanford University and is leased by the Google corporation. PageRank is one of the few key constituents of the Google algorithm to determine the ranking of a web page in any Google search result list.

What Is The Importance Of PageRank?

In the world of online marketing, there can be no greater sin than to be anything less than on the first page of a Google search result list.

With billions of searches being conducted on Google each day world over, and with each search returning results lists with at least tens of thousands of hits, it is a wonder how we ever find exactly what we are looking for. Yet somehow a link is always there, if not in the first few results, then always in the first few pages of results. It is a given that searchers will rarely, if ever, venture beyond the first few pages of results.

For business owners, this effectively means that if your site isn't there in the first few pages of a Google search result list, you may as well close your online doors and forget about it; no one is going to find you.

Yes, quality content is cool and will originally determine whether the website will be included in the search result. However, it will not assist you with being the customer's first choice. This can only be achieved through knowing and understanding the intricacies of the Google search engine, and more specifically, the PageRank constituent.

PageRank is Google's way of ensuring that the top search results are of the highest quality and are the most valuable to the searcher. In layman's terms, PageRank is the number given to any web page based on the importance of the page, as determined by Google. The greater the PageRank of a web page, the higher its placement on any related search results list, and the greater the chance of any searcher clicking through to the web page.

KA-CHING!

What is the quickest means of improving PageRank, you now ask? Unfortunately, there is none; it's just not as simple as it sounds.

Wrong.

The catch is, the linkages need to be genuine and of importance themselves for the PageRank to improve. For example, linkages to and from Link Farms simply do not work and if anything, are detrimental to PageRank. Link Farms have no importance (cyber garbage anyone?) and are deceptive by their very nature as their sole basis for existence is to manipulate PageRanks. Google penalizes the use of such guerilla tactics to improve PageRank, as they undermine the quality of the search and ultimately undermine the credibility of Google. Tsk tsk.

Building PageRank can actually be a long and tedious process, and it doesn't help that the PageRank function actually favours older sites. Okay, so this may sound a tad discouraging, but one should always focus on the positive: in the long term, PageRank is your friend. By building PageRank, your website will be at the top of list, in full view of the consumer, each and every time. Marketing your website can't get any better than that!

iQuantum is not in the guessing game business. As business experts we are only interested in how the internet and online marketing can be used as a concrete, proven profit making tool for your business. Please talk to us to make sure you get the strategy right.