When the Internet became more diverse, more and more services have become available. One such service is the search engine. This little tool can help people find their way in the vast world of the Internet. But how do they rank the websites? Well, by their authority of course. How are their authority measured? That is through PageRank.
PageRank is important, it is a fact. If you do not know what PageRank is, it is simply a grade attached to a particular website. How search engines determine PageRank is still a mystery to a lot of people. But one can be sure that it proportional to the amount of visitors and backlinks a particular website has. Why? Well, PageRank can be described as a measure of popularity and the number of visitors and backlinks that a website has, th greater its popularity. But PageRank is only one factor. It is not the end-all and be-all when it comes to ranking online.
One problem of PageRank or PR is updating. Toolbar PR or the PR displayed on Google’s Toolbar plays a very important role in determining the performance of a website. For example, Yahoo.com has a PR of 9. This means that Yahoo is a very popular website. While this can provide a measure, the problem lies on its occasional updating mechanism. PR only updates once every three months. And sometimes it even extends up to 6 months. So you can imagine how many changes have happened within the business landscape within that time. With this, one can say that PR is simply outdated and cannot be trusted.
Also, PR does not equate to better search engine rankings. Try searching for a particular term and you will find some websites in the top positions with lower PR than their bottom counterparts. PR does not affect the optimization of keywords on a particular page. It is still up to you. Having better PR does not mean you have better rankings in terms. It only means you have better traffic and links. These are two completely different things.
With this, you should not limit yourself with gaining PR. PR is only one thing but real, targeted traffic from search engines is another thing. You should still employ proper onpage and offpage optimization in order for your site to reach its full potential.
PR also does not affect conversion rates. Some websites have a higher authority and traffic but have a very low conversion rate. This is not good because this only means your visitors are not translating to sales or profits. This is bad news if you are primarily running a website to make an income.
But even if PR is always questioned, it has always been a reliable measurement for websites. A lot of web developers sell their websites with PR as a primary consideration to justify their prices. Domainers also use PR in evaluating the domains they buy and sell. Since it is very important in the trade of websites and domains, it only means that people still hold PR in high esteem.
Search Engine Optimization and PageRank are closely related to each other but they are not synonymous. PR or PageRank is like a grade given to a particular website and it is only one part of search engine optimization. Search engine optimization, on the other hand, pertains to the entire process of getting ranked in search engines. While PR plays a vital role in the search engine optimization process, they are not the same.