PageRank in a Nutshell
As a freelance web developer I know small business owners generally don’t have a lot of cash to burn on setting up a website as well as feeling a little uneasy simply because they don’t exactly understand how people will ultimately find their website.
Before doing any thing hasty I recommend my clients begin by using a website template, as opposed to spending hundreds of dollars embarking on any projects from scratch, these ready made web designs are affordable, well organized and can be quickly customized to adapt to what will ultimately be a unique and high quality website. On the other hand the esthetic characteristics of your design alone, which Google’s ranking mechanism by the way ain’t too keen on, will not drive visitor to your site.
The majority of the gazillion hits fluking to Google on a daily bases are spawned by it’s single most popular service the search engine. Did I say gazillion? Ok I may be exaggerating a little. Nonetheless as of Sep of 2006 half of all Internet searches relied on Googles technology.
Google’s reign over the search market supports a blooming economy of a billion little businesses and developers who understand the need for their businesses to develop strong ties between the search engine and them. The only way to do this is by ranking high in Google. Now, before we start tinkering around with Flash, Cascading Style Sheets and dynamic to static URL rewrite’s to improve our PR (PageRank) why don’t we find out how this ranking mechanism actually works?
PageRank PageRank relies on the democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure to determine an individual page’s value. In other words Google interprets a links or better said, an inbound-link or links from other sites to your site, as a vote from page A, for page B, notwithstanding Google looks at more than just sheer volumes of votes (inbound-links) a page received; it also analyses the page casting the vote.
Votes cast by more important pages would naturally weigh more heavily and help to make your site seem better established. Of course, the significance of a page may mean absolutely nothing to you if it doesn’t match your query. So, Google combines PageRank with some fancy text-matching techniques to find pages that are both significant and also relevant to your search.
In other words, is not just about who can gain the highest volume of votes necessarily, but also to ensure that each vote is relevant to your own page’s material. Moreover Google recommends you do not participate in link schemes designed to increase your site’s rankings. And specially, avoid span campaigns or “bad neighborhoods” on the web, as this might indivertibly lower your PageRank.
Google Webmaster tools There is a lot of advise floating around out there, with many SEO firms making some remarkable claims and all sorts of wonderful guarantees as to what they can do for the PageRank of your pages in Google. If you want my opinion, I say don’t believe anyone till you hear it straight from the horse’s mouth in this case, you guess it, ask Google.
Check out Googles Business Solutions there you’ll be asked to create an account, if you don’t already have one don’t worry it’s totally free and there’s no obligation. In particular take a look at “Web Pages - with Google webmaster tools” this nifty little suite of webmaster tools will provide you with a free and easy way to make your site more Google-friendly.
One of these features actually illustrate The PageRank of your pages in Google, while others help you diagnose problems, and let you share info directly with Google to help improve your site’s visibility. In addition Google’s Webmaster’s tools provide up-to-date helpful articles, webmasters guidelines and technical information specifically designed to help you attain, retain and stay current on anything new that may affect the PageRank of your pages.
In sum tuning-up your site’s PR doesn’t need to be that difficult, simply follow the Webmaster guidelines, and keep and eye out for improvement; most major search engine today constantly adjust or make important changes to their search algorithm.
If you liked this post, try Dyfed Lloyd Evan How do you Improve your Google Ranking? for more information.
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Search engine positioning, optimization, and increased website traffic are critical elements of a successful Internet business solution. High visibility of your website can make the difference between driving a high volume of sales leads and targeted traffic to your company’s website or being lost in “cyber space.”
With the burgeoning popularity of the internet, new developmental tools are created daily. With these tools come new challenges, marketing, design, cross-browser transitions, etc. All of these can be a daunting task for those web gurus who aren’t well-versed in the W3 Standards.
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