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But your product is relevant to the seach (and may be the best candy in the world)
If page rank is based largly on quality links, how will this candy store ever get found?
PageRank seems to be squarely in favor of big businesses. It seems by the very nature of PR that is doen't always produce the most relevant results but rather most endowed web sites. (this is not a criticism, I love Google and am just trying to learn more)
Most car dealerships have a PR of 1 to 3, but aren't they really a 10 for their product in their area?
-s-
I think you have made a good point. I am now looking to add more incoming links to my site and increase my PR. But mine is a non-commercial site with little to offer in return. So it's proving difficult :(
If I were your hypothetical candy store I would definitely be suffering.
On the other hand, because I am out of the main stream, on certain keywords I have little competition and I am often within the top few results. So to some extent the low PR is not a problem.
Relating this to the small business, the only answer would be to go for niche terms that the big boys would not be targeting.
Another key aspect of this are the keywords. Even if they have a low pagerank, because their keywords will be regional, they are likely to rank well. I optimize a site for a meditation center in Los Angeles and we get great traffic with a 4 PR (I haven't had much time to work on it) based on the regional keywords.
So I think that it does work out to be a somewhat even playing field. Except for Froogle.
Most car dealerships have a PR of 1 to 3, but aren't they really a 10 for their product in their area?
On a non-regional basis, you'll either need to add PR or target much tighter focused kw's or both.
...even playing field. Except for Froogle.
rmjvol
Regional keywords are fine if you can use them. But if you are selling via mail order then they probably aren't too helpfull.
However I think Google is doing the right thing. It may be tough on the small candy store, but most customers are probably looking for major players with a wide product range and quick despatch service, etc. So by prioritizing the high rankers Google is probably providing what its users want.
Let's say you have a gourmet candy shop in a small city. The chances of having larger better PR sites linking to you are slim to none.
Not so, you just need to think outside the box.
Even the smallest business can be worthy of attention from major media sources and groups with enormous reach both online and off. You just need a hook.
Here are just a few examples of high PR sites and how you can earn a link from them...
The opportunities are practically endless, you just need to look through an open lens.
Lots of personal-type sites have PRs of 4, 5 and sometimes 6. A few PR 5 links will help your site PR a lot and make you more competitive.
Also don't bother competing for the biggest keyword if that's dominated by major companies. Go for less common keywords that you can rank highly for. Being position 100 for 'candy' will likely get you no traffic, whilst being position 8 for 'chocolate-covered brazil nuts' might get you more.
Build up your content so that your site gets hit by lots of different keywords, rather than relying on one or two for all your traffic.
PR for pages (not including 2nd DMOZ page) is 3, 5, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 3, 4. Most have very few discernable external links.
For 7 sisters from Scottsdale to rank #3 out of a universe of about 111,000 ain't too shabby. Check out their very keyword rich page.
And when you add the city name to the search the three local shops jump to number 1, as would be expected.
This might not be the best example but it does show that being small and local does not mean you won't be found. The competitiveness of the keywords is a factor, PR is a factor and all of those on-page criteria are factors.
Kind of forgot exactly where I was going with this, but you get the idea.
Jim
If page rank is based largly on quality links, how will this candy store ever get found?
stcrim:
You'll get found because you're relevant for the searches "gourmet candy mycity" or "gourmet chocolate mycity", etc -- whatever your pagerank. If pagerank was the only factor involved in the search engine results then Microsoft would be in the top ten for every search you did.
Your competition for these targeted searches is not sites with PR10, it's the other candy stores in your area. And you have exactly the same chances of getting sites to link to you as they have.
[edited by: MeditationMan at 7:41 pm (utc) on Dec. 13, 2002]
