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Do people still think PR actually matters?

by Curtis2011
22 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Seriously... from everything I have studied in IM, it seems like everyone is obsessed with getting "high PR backlinks" as if they are a gift from God, but few people can actually show any tangible benefit to their website from getting these links.

Somehow, I think Google has gotten onto this game of getting high PR backlinks a long time ago. They probably continue to talk about PR just to throw SEO people off intentionally. I highly doubt that PR is even an indication of anything useful at all anymore.

One of the reasons I say this is because awhile back, I put up about 100 pages of outsourced content onto a brand new website and domain. Within a week or so, and with absolutely no link building by me, Google had already upgraded the site to PR3. It sat at PR3 for as long as I had it, which was only like a year because it didn't turn out to be profitable. The PR3 never changed during that time and I never did a single ounce of link building on the website.

Meanwhile another one of my sites that also has around 100 pages has been online for years now, only the homepage is PR1 with the rest at PR0, and it has been getting thousands of visitors per month and making a decent profit off that for years. I have also done extensive link-building in the past (buying links and manually doing link trades with other websites) and it never rose above PR1.

tl;dr: Page rank isn't really that important in the grand scheme of things.
#matters #people
  • Profile picture of the author supereek
    emhh look.. high PR backlinks give you a better boost in SEO. because the higher the PR of a particular page is where you link comes from, the more weight it gives to your site as a "vote"

    the PR of your own website doesnt matter that much in the rankings, as i said in another topic here, my pr3 site outranks a pr6 for the same keyword.
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    • Profile picture of the author Lanx
      Originally Posted by supereek View Post

      emhh look.. high PR backlinks give you a better boost in SEO. because the higher the PR of a particular page is where you link comes from, the more weight it gives to your site as a "vote"
      correct answer
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  • Profile picture of the author sanusense
    Yes! It's probably a great ammo of any website, how much you have PR your online presence would be consider as a high authority.
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    • Profile picture of the author Cash37
      Im actually testing this right now, post Penguin. I may or may not share my results.
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      • Profile picture of the author Cash37
        Originally Posted by Cash37 View Post

        Im actually testing this right now, post Penguin. I may or may not share my results.
        Im building naked high PR Do Follow's to three pages. 1 is a page on a PR 3, 2 is a blogspot, and 3 is a page under PR 1 domain I picked up. All are targeting the same KW.

        After 1 day:

        1- indexed, not ranking for kw
        2- indexed, not ranking for kw
        3- indexed, not ranking for kw

        anyone want me to keep updating?
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        • Profile picture of the author mohsinmallik
          Originally Posted by Cash37 View Post

          1- indexed, not ranking for kw
          2- indexed, not ranking for kw
          3- indexed, not ranking for kw
          You cannot expect to change your ranking within days.
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  • Profile picture of the author PerformanceMan
    Yes, there's not even a shadow of a doubt in my mind that PageRank still 'matters.' In fact - I'm willing to go out on a limb and say only a pure 100% idiot thinks PageRank doesn't matter at all.

    It's not the most important ranking factor - but PageRank still determines crawl rate and much more so it's definitely important.
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  • Profile picture of the author evilsaigon
    I have a site which is PR 0, even on the home domain. There's an advertiser purchasing advertising space on my site every month. o.o

    Ok it's not a big site at all, but it's getting its bit of decently targeted traffic which I think matters most.

    When it comes to building links, good PR sites do contribute a little to your SEO but PR is definitely not the most important factor, so yeah, don't worry too much about your site's PR.
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  • Profile picture of the author jfambrini
    Your experience may be a fluke, for most of us it is links from high PR sites that confer PR score. I had a 1 month old site shoot up to PR4 thanks to a link from a PR5 page of a PR8 site. Once that link was removed the site dropped to PR3 in the next PR update. Though my PR0 site outranks it on most SERP so PR ranking does not always matter in search results.
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  • Profile picture of the author ronrule
    I think you have are some misconceptions about what PageRank actually means... Your PR has no impact on how your own site does in the results, it's a measure of value in how much "weight' your link is worth when you link to other sites. A PR0 site could do just as well in Google as a PR9 for any given phrase, content vs. content. But if your inbound LINKS are on a bunch of PR0 sites, those backlinks aren't helping you as much as links from higher PR sites would be.

    If your business is in selling ads on your site, PR matters - the higher the rank, the more people are willing to pay for ads. At one point I had a site that was a PR9 and I was getting $4k per month per text ad. The ad buyers didn't care about traffic or my own position in the search engines.
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  • Profile picture of the author JSProjects
    It definitely still matters. Just not as much as it did a few years back, IMO. A properly optimized page can very easily outrank a poorly optimized page, even if it's got a higher PR.

    A combination of proper optimization + PR is what you should be aiming for.
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  • Profile picture of the author dennis09
    Where do people come up with this stuff??? A high pr, especially homepage, link is still infinitely more valuable than a bunch of n/a links or none at all. And yes if it is relevant it will definitely give you a boost in the SERPS. I'm not sure what to say to anybody that doesn't agree. My results along with an entire private seo forum says otherwise.
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    • Profile picture of the author kaytav
      Originally Posted by dennis09 View Post

      Where do people come up with this stuff??? A high pr, especially homepage, link is still infinitely more valuable than a bunch of n/a links or none at all. And yes if it is relevant it will definitely give you a boost in the SERPS. I'm not sure what to say to anybody that doesn't agree. My results along with an entire private seo forum says otherwise.
      I agree. Getting a couple of links on a page having PR, is always going to be more helpful than some crappy links from low and n/a PageRank.
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  • Profile picture of the author ronrule
    They get it from Matt Cutts, Google's Minister of Propaganda.

    Google has been trying to convince people that PageRank doesn't matter/is going away/isn't relevant for a few years now because they know it's still the best way to game their system. Anyone in the business of link building knows that in spite of all of the content updates, it's still the most important factor.

    Granted that doesn't mean it will be forever - Google is clearly taking steps toward a more content and social-driven database than a link-driven one. But that, if it's even possible, is YEARS away.

    If you think of a backlink like a "vote" for your site, then high PR sites are the celebrity endorsements. You can have hundreds, even thousands of normal people saying "Go here for information about X" and it won't hold a candle to how much visibility you would get if Kim Kardashian or Beyonce said it. That's what High PR links do for you ... those sites are the "celebrities" of the Internet, and if THEY say your site is about X, Google listens.
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    • Profile picture of the author Curtis2011
      Originally Posted by ronrule View Post

      They get it from Matt Cutts, Google's Minister of Propaganda.

      Google has been trying to convince people that PageRank doesn't matter/is going away/isn't relevant for a few years now because they know it's still the best way to game their system. Anyone in the business of link building knows that in spite of all of the content updates, it's still the most important factor.
      I didn't get this from Matt Cutts. I rarely watch his videos.

      From everything I have observed, I cannot find any time when high PR actually matters for a web page to rank highly. There are numerous instances where you can look at the PR of every link on page 1 of the SERPs, and you'll see a PR0 ranking above a PR3 page for a certain term, or a PR1 ranking above a PR5, or other similar occasions.

      I have never actually seen a situation in which higher PR was directly correlated with higher traffic and/or higher earnings, which is what you should be going after if you are trying to make money online.

      The only time PR really matters is if you are the person selling PR links to other people, because then you'll get more money from them. But only a relative few people actually do this.
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      • Profile picture of the author ronrule
        Originally Posted by Curtis2011 View Post

        ...From everything I have observed, I cannot find any time when high PR actually matters for a web page to rank highly.
        And how your car looks won't affect its resale value if it still runs and drives fine. Following your logic, a 73 Pinto is worth the same as a new Corvette, because both will get you across town in the exact same amount of time if you obey the speed limit.

        :rolleyes:

        ...The only time PR really matters is if you are the person selling PR links to other people, because then you'll get more money from them. But only a relative few people actually do this.
        Didn't you say your site sold ads? Ads are links, whether they are text based or graphical. Sites with a high PageRank get more money for their ads than sites with a low PageRank. In fact, I would be willing to bet that right now there are people who won't buy an ad on your site simply because there is no PageRank, no matter how relevant your site is to the audience they're trying to reach.

        I buy a lot of ads for my clients, and I assure you as a buyer that the PageRank of the site I'm looking to place an ad on is a BIG factor. If you're cruising with a zero, that's exactly how much of my money you're getting. Ad buyers aren't just looking for a direct-response type benefit, they're looking for how the ad relates to a total campaign.

        Why would I buy an ad on your site when I could buy an ad on a site with PageRank - when I do that I get any traffic the ad itself would generate, PLUS the link benefit which helps my ongoing SEO efforts. Further, why would I buy an ad on a PR0 site in the first place, when that link could potentially hurt my SEO efforts?

        Anyway not trying to be rude, just telling you how ad buyers think. You seem to be in denial of what PageRank really means as a content publisher, and insist there are no benefits. There are plenty, and I guarantee it's costing you sales.
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      • Profile picture of the author dennis09
        Originally Posted by Curtis2011 View Post

        I didn't get this from Matt Cutts. I rarely watch his videos.

        From everything I have observed, I cannot find any time when high PR actually matters for a web page to rank highly. There are numerous instances where you can look at the PR of every link on page 1 of the SERPs, and you'll see a PR0 ranking above a PR3 page for a certain term, or a PR1 ranking above a PR5, or other similar occasions.

        I have never actually seen a situation in which higher PR was directly correlated with higher traffic and/or higher earnings, which is what you should be going after if you are trying to make money online.

        The only time PR really matters is if you are the person selling PR links to other people, because then you'll get more money from them. But only a relative few people actually do this.
        Correlation does not equal causation. There are many factors that would allow this to happen. The most common being the higher pr/authority pages not being properly optimized for that specific keyword, which leaves a gap for those other pages to top them in the SERPS. This is a reliable sign of a low competition keyword. A bunch of PR n/a pages outranking PR 5s which arent optimized. Just focus on beating their link profile.

        Another reason for this is age. New pages benefit from the "query deserves freshness" algorithm and tend to get a temporary boost while the older pages pages with more authority and PR will hold more stable positions.

        Edit: Also, lets not confuse the site PR with the PR of its backlinks. PR isnt updated in realtime, so those n/a pages could very well have high pr backlinks.
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      • Profile picture of the author heavysm
        Originally Posted by Curtis2011 View Post

        From everything I have observed, I cannot find any time when high PR actually matters for a web page to rank highly.
        Two situations I have seen content rise with PR links: one with my own private network and another with a shared network with a few other SEO's (about 12 people in this shared network). The shared network uses shared hosting and a few dedicated servers. Both 1000% help my sites rank (hyperbole - whatever but you get the point).

        I have tested it both ways using only a ton of varied links then using varied links with PR. PR always anchors me well onto the first page, no doubt.

        The shared network also helps me rank, I will admit not as quickly, but it really does hold its rank when it gains.

        So to me this conversation feels a bit dumb. How many of you guys have actually really tried what you're discussing? I am not speaking out of theory or anything else, but from my own sites ranking. I'm pretty sure more of you guys would have a similar opinion if you had similar tests done. We're all SEO's here right?
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  • Profile picture of the author dennis09
    If you want to spend god knows how much money building sites with 100+ pages of content in hopes of magically getting a PR 3 and high rankings then go right ahead.
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  • Profile picture of the author jhon once
    I find the whole discussion of Pagerank difficult. To me, Pagerank is an "external indication", not a "ranking factor" itself. Pagerank is based on the authority of the website in question which is based on the authority of the websites linking to it.

    That is then given a numerical badge of honour.
    Pagerank (the number) means nothing in relation to ranking. Authorative backlinks are simply huge in affecting ranking, however. If we're talking about the authorative backlinks that Pagerank is based on, then that not only matters, it is the single most important thing you can do.

    The number is so unimportant: e.g. pages drop Pagerank all the time from 6 to 5 or 4 to 3 simply because the number of web pages used in the algorithm has increased dramatically. The SERPS are totally unaffected by such a drop in Pagerank.

    Matter for what? I believe that it doesn't affect rankings directly, but it is a simple indicator of some of the variables of rankings. For me, it is a hell of a good way to diagnose my own pages, crawler access, link flow, and etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author ProSence
    According to what Wikepedia says about PR is

    If any site has 5 page rank then there is 50% chances that the site would be searched in Google..
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    • Profile picture of the author Marc_L
      Originally Posted by ProSence View Post

      According to what Wikepedia says about PR is

      If any site has 5 page rank then there is 50% chances that the site would be searched in Google..
      Actually it's closer to 47.2%

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