Don’t Let PageRank Control Your Link Building

Writing by Nick Stamoulis Tweet

Every time a client asks me about how they can improve their PageRank, I have to cringe a little. Time and time again I have explained that PageRank is only one of 200 ranking signals that Google uses to determine where a site falls in the SERP. While PageRank used to be the Grand Poobah measurement of SEO success (and a major differentiating factor for Google), I don’t believe it’s as important today as it was back when Google was founded. So when a client tells me they only want me to focus on getting links from sites with a PageRank 7 or higher, I have to tell them that zeroing in on PageRank is limiting the long term potential of their link building campaign.

Here are 2 reasons why you shouldn’t let a PageRank govern your link building:

1. Google says you shouldn’t care so much.
A Google employee spelled it out in webmaster central back in 2009, “We’ve been telling people for a long time that they shouldn’t focus on PageRank so much; many site owners seem to think it’s the most important metric for them to track, which is simply not true.” In another forum Google states “Don’t worry. In fact, don’t bother thinking about it.” If Google says you shouldn’t let PageRank affect your SEO, why would you let it dictate your link building?

2. You might miss great link opportunities
Believe it or not, there are sites out there that don’t have an 8 or 9 PageRank that are still great sites to get inbound links from (GASP!). Instead of looking at PageRank, see if that site targets the same audience as you and if a link from that site could potentially drive targeted traffic. Can you use that one link to build a relationship with the site owner? Instead of just getting one link, maybe you start submitting guest articles for their blog or have them write a review of one of your products. By deciding that you aren’t going to even consider a site below a certain PageRank, you are severely limiting your chances of finding a great link opportunity.

The best link building campaigns create links from a variety of different sources. They may be blogs, videos, webinars, social media signals, articles, reviews and so forth. Every single link does not have to come from a PageRank 8 site to be considered valuable to your SEO.