Does PageRank Have Any Search Engine Optimization Value?

Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Wednesday, 23 of April , 2008 at 1:21 am

PageRank is often maligned as been useless, out of date and not a true reflection of a pages real value. This is in the main quite true. However, there must be some value to PageRank and if there is, can it assist you in your search engine optimization strategies.

My simple response is no, yes and yes. Hang on, I hear you say, there are only two queries in that last sentence? True. PageRank on your site has little value. So the answer is NO, PageRank has no value. However, PageRank on another site is a different matter - so YES, PageRank does matter and YES it can help with your search engine optimization strategies.

Now I have got you totally confused, let me clarify and start by explaining what PageRank does tell you. PageRank whilst out of date, has important historical value. If a page that you are looking at has a PR of say 4, then you know that this page has had some good search engine optimization strategies applied.

A PR of 4 would have some quality links coming in, a good use of keywords and, most importantly, has some value when it comes to search engine recognition. It also says that the page and web site has probably not engaged in any spammy activities that search engines would could penalize a site for. In other words, when PageRanks were calculated, this page had adhered to all search engine optimization strategies appropriately and had some authority.

Okay, you say, we now know that this site has some authority when it comes to search engine recognition. How do I use that in my search engine optimization program? You can probably guess what I am going to say. This site has good PageRank therefore it has some authority. If I am looking for sites to link from (or even link to), then this is one site (or page) that is worth working on.

Obtaining links from a site with an authority PageRank like this could help boost your sites rankings. You could visit and leave regular comments (if enabled) or you could approach the website owner to see if a one way or two link program could be put in place. As knowing someone else’s PageRank could be very handy.

Category: PageRank, SEO

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