What exactly are PR rankings?

[Stephen]

Dear members,

I've been hearing alot lately on the net about PR rankings and how they are critical to having a successful website. Can anyone give me some info on that?

Thanks,

Stephen

[temi]

PR is the abbreviation for Page Rank, a website ranking system developed by
Google. The idea is that a website is awarded a ranking based on how
important Google think the site it. PR is measured on a scale of 0 to 10,
the more important a site is considered to be the higher PR it gets, for
example this form has a PR of 4/6 compared with Adobe.com what has a PR of
10/10 so Adobe.com is considered to be one of the most important sites on
the internet.

PR is usually passed from one ranked site to the next for example if a
website with a PR of 5/10 should link to your site, your site will be
considered to be of some value hence a PR5 website links to you, if the PR5
link to you for several months, your website will be awarded a PR4, just one
below the site that linked to you. However if several PR5 website/web pages
links to your site your site may even get PR5.
Image of what a PR look like below


Some site have been restricted from being able to pass on PR so even if they
link to you, their PR will not pass on to your website. To be able to view
PR of websites, you need to install Google tool bar, you can download and
install Google toolbar from this website: http://toolbar.google.com

Well, that is my interpretation of PR, here is what Google themselves have
to say about PR:

The heart of our software is PageRankâ„¢, a system for ranking web pages
developed by our founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford University.
And while we have dozens of engineers working to improve every aspect of
Google on a daily basis, PageRank continues to provide the basis for all of
our web search tools.

PageRank Explained

PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its
vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In
essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page
A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or
links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes
cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to
make other pages "important."

Important, high-quality sites receive a higher PageRank, which Google
remembers each time it conducts a search. Of course, important pages mean
nothing to you if they don't match your query. So, Google combines PageRank
with sophisticated text-matching techniques to find pages that are both
important and relevant to your search. Google goes far beyond the number of
times a term appears on a page and examines all aspects of the page's
content (and the content of the pages linking to it) to determine if it's a
good match for your query.

Integrity
Google's complex, automated methods make human tampering with our results
extremely difficult. And though we do run relevant ads above and next to our
results, Google does not sell placement within the results themselves (i.e.,
no one can buy a higher PageRank). A Google search is an easy, honest and
objective way to find high-quality websites with information relevant to
your search.[img][/img][img][/img]

[Paul_KY]

Stephen,

With all due respect, to those of whom have faith in the almighty, "Google PR", please, don't lose much sleep over it.

Goggle changes their ALGO daily/weekly/monthly/minutely (Ala, "Florida Update"). And besides, there are many more search engines, which are more likely, IMHO, to produce sales/leads, whom command attention (YHOO/MSN). :wink:

Google NEEDS US MORE THAN WE NEED THEM. Folks go there for info and research shows they are less likely, “buyers�. So, hey Google, KMA lol.

Google is important, yes. Remember, though, Google is a, "search for info" engine, more than anything else. This is JMHO. And I'll tell you what it's based on...

Conversations/relationships with other Websters lol (cool name/odd job) who have pulled their Google Content Match, from their Google Adwords advertising account. Myself, I had a feeling the ROI would s**k, so I paused. Glad to see some of the, "Pro's IMHO" confirm my, "gut" instinct.

Ok, so as I end my, “RANT�, in response to your question, IMHO, NO, Google PR is not, “Critical� to your success on the internet.

I'd love to see everyone make an honest buck off the Internet. I hope my opinion helps.

Best of Luck!

Paul<---Opinionated SOB lol -

[Paul_KY]

Temi,

Remember that site I gave you, the one where you linked a PR4 link to?

I'm not sure if you checked the PR or backlinks, but wouldn't you agree, based on its PR, this goes completely against Google's PR explanation? :wink:

Paul

[discountdomains]

PR used to be important but its significance in SERPS (Search Engine Results Placement) is now greatly reduced.

Clare

[Paul_KY]

I agree.

I have one site with a PR3, which tops the listings for many highly search key phrases.

IMHO, the recent shake up is due to Google Adwords.

Webmaster's listings disappear from the top of the SERPs, they are more prone to buy adwords.

Plus, if the results stink it up, the search will be more prone to click on the ads.

Google used to be all about search. Now, IMHO, it's payday, but it's also payday for the shareholders (The big boys), so that stock price needs to say high until the insiders dump.

JMHO

[smeagain]

PR carries far less importance now compared to 18 months ago. Nowadays it still has an influence but is more pronounced the more competitive the "Search Term" is. Example less competitive terms such as "Left hand red widgets in Wales" would be less influenced than the more competitive term "Red widgets".

Often taking a competitive or generic term and geographicaly qualifying it will make a page with low PR instantly more productive.

There are obviously more factors involved than that because PR and its importance is a complex subject. However the above example is probably one of the mos important effects for ordinary Webmastersc like us.

[Paul_KY]

Excellent Post!

Thank You, smeagain

<EOM>