Does PR matter?

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Kind of a bit of a back and forth on the analyzing top 10 competition thread then we get into a big argument about PR, and does it matter in rankings. I have heard many times it makes zero difference which I tend to agree with more than disagree with,

Here is my problem with PR though

An Adsense course I just bought from guys who have been around way longer than newbies, on their section (100 page tutorial) on top 10 competition, they basically look for this

1. Sites with PR4 or lower on position 5 of the top 10
2. sites with lowest BLP (backlinks to the actual page) as possible

Theorizing as the reason for this, their justification is that sites with PR 5, 6,7 etc especially those with strong backlinks (assumedly this means a high number of high PR backlinks) will be way more difficult to outrank than sites with lower PR, (PR4 Or less)

Assumedly they base this on past experience, but the question is,
Is this a valid theory

If PR doesnt matter, then why worry about outranking pages that are PR5 or higher?

It should not make a difference they should all be just as easy to outrank (theoretically) at least if the theory that PR makes no difference in the SERPs , holds true


Ok if this IS TRUE (PR does not matter)
why do people worry about it? Why do people go to so much trouble then to pay 100s of dollars per month for high PR backlink networks. ?

Apparently the PR of your backlinks (higher the better ) certainly DOES matter as far as google giving weight to your site, and since the strength of your backlinks makes a huge difference in your rankings.....................and since the PR of those backlinks makes a huge difference in their strength and the authority google gives your site.....................based on that analysis, Then PR definitely DOES MATTER, .........A LOT
So I guess when people talk about PR, the statement should be

The PR of your Backlinks matters and it matters a lot

But when these guys go for such high PR backlink networks , to me the ultimate result will be that their own site's PR rises dramatically

Look at that lose weight fast site that went to number one. Do you think its a coincidence he has so many high PR backlinks and he also 301 redirected a 10 yr old PR6 site to his site?


Why did he do that if PR makes no difference?

btw his site is now a PR6

this is where the confusion lies
#search engine optimization #matter
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  • I realize that onpage SEO is perhaps WAY more important than PR perhaps PR is just a side benefit of good backlinks and rankings,

    the whole thing is difficult to figure out the strategy to which kws to target though

    I think with new sites, site age works against you and the site does not yet have trust by google until perhaps 6 months
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      I know you don't want to hear me say this again.

      Forget PR in the SERPs.

      The only thing you need to look at PR for is backlinks, & that's not always 100%. The reason is PR is Googles way of saying I trust this page based on the incoming links that are associated with this page. The exception would be If wikipedia created a new page today PR0 (after Indexed) & then pointed 100 PR5 links from older internal pages that already have higher PRs, Google will still pass authority to that new wiki page. Even before showing the PR update on any PR tools. It's still an authority page.

      Again, the only thing PR is good for is backlinks, it has no effect on the SERPs just because the page has a high PR, If that page isn't targeting the exact keyword (backlink anchor-text + on-page seo).

      Now If you had a PR5 page with 100 PR6 backlinks with anchor-text on the backlinks, chances are you'll be #1 in the SERPs for an average competition keyword. Still it's not a gurantee, your competition might say screw this guy, I'm getting ready to have 500, PR7 backlinks with the exact same keyword anchor-text. One week later the new guy with a boat load of high PR backlinks will own that keyword in the SERPs.
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  • Confidence builds with success
    at this point I have not ranked many sites, then again I am just starting back into making sites

    I ranked my familys resort number 2 in about 3 months but
    that was a very non competitive kw

    I do not have experience with success ranking competitive kws but I am sure that will come with time and experience

    My question about PR is this
    Why do you think the Adsense 100k tutorial those guys will steer clear of targeting kws where all the competition on the top 10 is PR5 or higher

    if PR does not matter
    do you think they are just unaware of this?
    These guys did not just fall off the turnip truck yesterday they have been ranking sites for about 10 yrs
  • Pr is useless, don't ever focus on it.
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    • That's an extremely sweeping statement.

      Are you saying that if you were offered a contextual backlink of a permanent valid PR7 or PR0 page, you wouldn't care less?

      I know which one I'd take and I've seen the results of having just a single backlink off a high PR page.
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    • Well, its not useless if you are planning to sell the website or sell sidewide links. People always ask for PR in this cases.
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  • Well considering it is just a number and anybody can achieve PR5 in a matter of days it is worthless. Why worry about a number that means nothing? PR has been dead for years but silly "SEO Experts" think otherwise, focus on quality content and stop wasting time on PR.
  • how exactly can PR5 be achieved in a matter of days...? i'd love to know the process involved..
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  • PR does matter, but not to be completely focused on. You are correct to surmise that PR from other pages will flow to your site, but taking that into consideration the PR of this thread is 0 will the main page is 5 therefore the flow through to your site would be from a PR 0 site, in theory, but Google doesn't look at it that way, as far as I know. There are so many variables to consider, but what you want to consider is the flow through of dofollow links from Higher PR to lift your PR with careful consideration of each page where are links are posted. i.e. what is the PR of the page and not the main home page of the site.
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  • Thanks for the info
    i am on the path
  • If you want to see the relative importance of PR for the keyword you are targeting then calculate the PR of the top 30 results in Google of that keyword. Anyone who has done this will know that it is never the case that they are ordered from highest to lowest in PR. In many cases that I have seen, there is only a very weak relationship between PR and Google search engine rankings. Of course though, if the sites in the top spots have PR3 and you have PR7, then you have a very good chance of beating them. But just reaching PR4 is probably not going to be enough on its own to beat them.
  • yes, PR is important because Search engine Gives more priority to those websites which websites contains high page rank
  • PageRank is still extremely important. In fact, it's still at the heart of the Google ranking system. Named after CEO Larry Page, PageRank is not going anywhere.

    That said, VISIBLE PR on the toolbar is not always accurate. Plus, for specific search terms it might not matter as much as other factors. That said, I can see why people looking for easy niche rankings would ignore a PR5 or PR6 challenger. That page already has a lot of backlinks.

    Also, PR is for PAGES not sites as so many people seem to think.
  • A low PR won't stop you from ranking well in the search engines but I would rather build backlinks to PR 4-6 blogs and forums rather than PR 0-2 because these websites don't have as high a level of trust in Google's eyes.
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  • I agree with Yukon on this one.

    PR as a general does not matter in the slightest, it is all about their keyword targeting. As Yukon said if they are targeting a related keyword with their anchor text and they are ranking for a similar one, but not exact, then yes you should go for it and target the specific anchor text you want to target.

    Although this being said, you are right that the PR of your backlinks has a big impact (yes I am one of those network owners ) and if targeted right then you should be able to rank for tougher keywords. Once you have these high PR backlinks to your site then no doubt your PR will go up so it does have an impact although not always completely relative to SERPS.
  • Yes, it definitely counts, others will say it doesn't matter, however I think having pagerank is better than not having PR, in my niche my clients want to see that my sites have PR before dealing with me, this is proof of what I do works to them.
  • Yes PR does matter as it is helpful to get quality backlinks.high pr sites have always been priority for the search engine optimization purpose.
  • The point OutWest and Yukon both have made is very valid about PR...Just look...



    As you can see, there are sites with less PR and less backlinks which have obtained higher rankings.

    If you take the trouble to analyze their backlinks though you will find the ones with less backlinks and less PR which are higher ranked have a higher average PR backlink coming to their site with more targeted anchor text.

    In what both Yukon and OutWest said they are not negating the importance of PR from backlinks, but pointing out the fact that PR of your page is NOT a big contributing factor to your OWN page ranking highly.
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    Does PR matter?

    Kind of a bit of a back and forth on the analyzing top 10 competition thread then we get into a big argument about PR, and does it matter in rankings. I have heard many times it makes zero difference which I tend to agree with more than disagree with, Here is my problem with PR though