Link Value Question

[jen24815]

Hi,

If a site (main page) is PR8 and they link to you from a sub page with lower PR, does it count as a link from a "PR8 site"? I mean, is it equally valuable to be linked from anywhere within a high PR site?

Jenny

[creative craig]

No it is only from the page that they link to you from.

I asked a similar question the other day, I was told that there is no such thing as site PR only page PR.

Craig

[Woz]

Jenny,

Remember, it is called PageRank not SiteRank. The PR boost you get is dependant on the PR of the page from which you are linked. Of course it is more complex than that and takes into account such factors as number of links on the page, but you get the idea.

People often refer to a site as having xPR, but in fact they mean that the HomePage of the site has xPR.

Onya
Woz

<added> Hehe, beat me by Thaaat Much!</added>

[digitalghost]

Short answer: No. Google ranks pages, not sites. They don't call it PageRank because of this however. That has to do with Larry Page.

Longer answer:

I prefer that links meet some criteria I establish before any consideration is given to Google's PageRank.

1. Will the link be on a page with content that supplements the page it is linking to.
2. Will the link be on a page with content similar to the page it is linking to?
3. Will the link benefit the users of the site it is on?
4. Will people arriving at the destination page be glad they clicked on the link?

Then I look at the PR of the page the link will be placed on, and the number of outbound links on the page the link is on.

The other consideration is whether you can supply your own anchor text. If the link is simply a domain name, unless the domain name describes the site, service or product the value of the link is diminished. If you can supply your own anchor text you can get targeted visitors and typically, targeted traffic converts better. In my opinion, the link is even more valuable if it is in context, these can be tough to get though. Barring an in context link, if they allow you to supply a link description this increases the value of the link.

PR is a wonderful thing, but it isn't the only thing and I prefer to have links that convert more than I care for links that boost PR. I'll develop traffic to a site with average PR, developing a higher PR takes some time and I've seen high PR actually decrease the conversion rates for sites unless extreme care is taken with keywords.

Getting targeted traffic is much easier if you consider the quality of the link rather than the PR value of the link. Just my thoughts.

[jen24815]

Hi Craig and Woz - thanks for the info. Jenny

DG - Once again, your logic defeats my sneaky plans. ;)

You make excellent points; I've decided not to obsess over it, because the link would mainly (not entirely) be for purposes of increasing my good PR links.

Thanks! Jenny

[Powdork]

Getting targeted traffic is much easier if you consider the quality of the link rather than the PR value of the link.

Yeah, what he said.

[Terry_Plank]

Amen to digitalghost. The value to an excellent linkage strategy is not just to improve PageRank. If it's primarily for that, then it is, in effect, a "spam" practice.

I think the true value of a good linkage strategy is first that of providing relevant links to the visitor and then of developing relationships with like-theme sites of quality.

Improved PageRank and better positions in the results page are the bonus because one is doing a good job of providing a quality site in the themes relevant to the site. Isn't that one reason Google started this in the first place? It wasn't to make it hard for everyone to get ranked, it was one element of determining what sites should be considered the best ones for a given search term.

[Woz]

>DG - They don't call it PageRank because of this however.

True, however it is a useful nisnomer to remember.

Onya
Woz