Wasting PR on old pages?

[BMach]

I recentley updated my site directory structure and changed file names. The old pages that I am not using anymore are still on my server and still show up as having PageRank. The old pages currently have no internal or external links to them. In other words they are not being used anymore and are just sitting there. They used to be linked from my home page so thats how they got the PageRank. So do these pages ,for now, still have this PageRank? At least until Google does a deep crawl and updates the rank of these old pages? Would it be a waste of time or considered a trick of some kind to link them back to my index page to get that PageRank? Am I making any sense?

[mcavic]

Yes, the pages still have PR until Google realizes that the inbound links are gone.

Linking those pages into other pages of your site is legal, but won't help your PR. If the old pages aren't getting any human visitors, then I'd concentrate more on your home page and your new structure.

[adfree]

BMach, welcome to WebMasterWorld.

You do make sense as this and similar type questions have popped up several times.

I would like to encourage you to study Google's material on the topic. That will get many questions answered.

[google.com...]