The Importance of Page Rank in SEO

Having been produced by one of the co-founders of Google, it is easy to see why Page Rank is an important tool to SEO. It takes into account all the ranking factors that Google will and turns this into a numerical value between 0 and 10, basically giving your site a score according to Google. Page Rank is NOT your position within SERPs but rather a score given to your site which will have some bearing on where you are placed in searches.

What is Page Rank?

Page Rank (PR) is a link analysis algorithm produced by co-founder of Google, Larry Page. Taking into account various factors of your website, this algorithm considers the “authority” of your site compared to others in its industry.

In search engine optimisation, Page Rank is a powerful tool. You should naturally accumulate PR if you’re optimising your site correctly so with a higher Page Rank you should rank higher in Google SERPs. It is a quantifiable way of assessing your SEO project.

How does Page Rank Work?

PR takes into account the same factors Google will when determining where to place your site within SERPs. Relevancy and backlinks are two particularly important elements of search engine optimisation taken into account in the PR algorithm. When determining your score, Page Rank will compare your site to others it considers an authority on your subject area or industry. Therefore it is important that your site is relevant to your subject as this will improve your PR score.

Backlinks should also be considered as an important part of your SEO campaign. Each link back to your site will count as a weighted “vote” for your website. Think of a backlink to your site as a similar idea to a citation to an essay. A backlink from another relevant site will suggest that you’re an authority in your subject area.

However, as with anything in search engine optimisation, quality is better than quantity. Backlinks are not all equally weighted. Ten links from a low PR website may not be worth as much as one work from one with a higher PR. For instance, 1 backlink from the BBC may be worth more than 10 from a local news website.

If you’re still feeling confused about page rank give our team of SEO experts a call on 0845 373 0595 or e-mail sales@seojunkies.com.