Google's PageRank & Referring Links

[Arnett]

I'm told that the only way that Google will count the referring links to your site as a contribution to PageRank is if the referring page has a PageRank of at least 4. I develop my pages and sites using WebPosition Gold and the best PageRank that I can get out of Google's toolbar is 3 (Although I'm told that the toolbar is NOT an accurate indicator of Google's final PageRank for that page). Any thoughts on developing pages that generate a PageRank of 4 or better? It's frustrating trying to design pages for the top SE and being a step away from success.

[nancyb]

Hi Arnett,

Welcome to WebmasterWorld!

You might look here [searchengineworld.com...] for Brett's excellent guide. Then, do a site search on WPG for some earlier threads. Make sure you do not use WPG to check your ranks on google.

[buckworks]

Pages with PR less than 4 are not usually displayed when you use Google to check who's linking to you, but that doesn't mean they don't count. As long as Google knows about them, links from pages with less than PR 4 WILL contribute their bit to your page rank. Something else to consider is that a well-worded link from a relevant "little" page can give you a boost for your targeted keywords, regardless of PR issues.

The way to get pages to PR 4 or better is by developing their link popularity, by
1) careful linking within your site(s), and
2) drumming up relevant links from other sites, the more the better.

[Arnett]

Nancy: Why should I not use WPG to check my position with Google?

Buckworks : What's the best way to "drum up" links from others? I'd imagine top tenners are getting bombarded with requests for links. The more links the less relevant any of them are.

I had the bright idea of creating message boards with links to my sites and pages at the bottom of each message posted. The messages got indexed all right but their page rank was 1. Even with hundreds and hundreds of links pointing to my urls the pageranks weren't boosted.
:-(

[nancyb]

Because google does not like automatic rank checking tools! Check their Do's and Don'ts here [google.com...] and do a site search on WPG as I suggested.

There is a wealth of information on this board and the best way to start out is to read the archives. Try the search and the library for some of the most helpful threads.

[colemanator]

Just for clarification. If sites linking to my site have a low PR, then Google ignores them? I have about 100 affiliate sites, but only about 20 show up when I perform a (link:www.blah.com).

[buckworks]

Colemanator: Google does not ignore low PR sites that link to you, it just doesn't report them all when you check who's linking to you. Even though links from "little" pages are not reported, they DO get taken into consideration when Google is assessing how to place your page(s) in the results for this or that search term.

Arnett: drumming up links ... first things first: your site has to be of good enough that other webmasters feel okay about linking to you. You're right that "top tenners" get a lot of link requests, so dig deeper. Much deeper! I recommend Paynt's wonderful post and the follow-up discusion here:

[webmasterworld.com...]

for some ideas to get started. It takes a lot of work to uncover possibities, even before you start contacting people to request links. As your web presence becomes better established, things become easier, because people take you more seriously when you ask, and also you'll begin to get links that you didn't have to ask for.

[Arnett]

I found a site today that promises to build traffic by building a partnership network of sites. The link is below:

[wwWebmasterWorldsoft.com...]

Do you think that it would help with Google?