Can I build my own PR out of nothing?

Where does Google PR come from and does it matter..

[ace2000]

I keep reading all of this talk on PR and getting backlinks etc. But where does PR come from? Where does it start? Can you build it out of nothing? In other words, if I build a very professional ecommerce site, seo optimized with links in a few of the major directories (dmoz, yahoo,etc), and then I add great content constantly (the pages are always changing and growing), the site is easy to use and naviagate, and customers love it, then can I just build my own PR without trying to get it from other sites with high PR? Can I become my own leader in my particular market? Will Google then give me PR, without me trying to look for it or "borrow it" from others?

[treeline]

Welcome to webmasterworld.

Yes, it is entirely possible to build an excellent site and see it blossom and gain pagerank. Many of the people here are looking for a faster, easier path to Google traffic.

Pagerank is based on examining the incoming web of links to your site and deducing its importance from this and a few other factors. If you have a great site people on the web will naturally link to it and recommend it. You will then come highly recommended by search engines. This is how Google intends the system to work. Understanding this, many seek to shortcircuit the system to their own advantage. It is quite clear that encouraging some other sites to link to you can help you rank higher, faster.

For the classic (and still relevant) article on developing a quality site that does well, please consider:

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By the guy who makes this whole site tick.