#socialbloggers,  blog tips

#socialbloggers 13 – Understanding Google PageRank

April 28, 2014 / 28 Comments
 
Our 13th #socialbloggers chat was Saturday and we discussed Google PageRank. I was surprised to discover that a lot of bloggers didn’t understand PR (pagerank), some had never heard of it before. I promised everyone a post in which I would explain PR in a simple, easy to understand why.
 

What is Google PageRank?

 
Google PageRank is a rating system that Google uses to determine the order in which webpages appear on Google.
 
It ranges from 0 to 10. 0 being the lowest and 10 is the highest. 
 
The number of links pointing to your website is the biggest influence of page rank. Not only the number of links, but the quality of them (coming from high ranking websites). Think of it as a voting system, with each link to your website a vote. 
 

What’s the difference between being unranked and PR0?

 
If you blog is unranked, it simply means that it has not been evaluated and given a page rank by Google yet. This is most likely because your blog is new. Once your blog has been indexed and ranked by Google, it may give you a 0 if you do not meet the criteria to rank 1 or higher. This is better than being unranked because it indicates that Googles knows about your web presence. 
 
One thing to understand, though, is that Google does not update PageRank very often. The last time it was updated was 6th December 2013, the time before that was February 4th 2013. Before that was 7th November 2012, 2nd August 2012, 2nd May 2012 and 7th February 2012. Nobody knows when the next update will be. It could be next week, it could be in 3 months. 
 
After the next update, if your page goes from up a rank or two, it does not mean your traffic will suddenly increase. Your page may be unranked according to PR checkers, yet if it meets the criteria of a PR2, for example. it will already but acting as a PR2 website in regards to the order it’s shown in search queries. So you may already have a higher Google PageRank than you think, but you will not know your PR until the next update. 
 

Why do you want a higher PageRank?

 
You want a higher Page Rank because it means your pages will show up higher when somebody searches Google for something you have blogged about. I’m going to use this very simple example:
Somebody searches ‘Naked 3 palette review’. There are only two webpages on the whole internet that match the term ‘Naked 3 palette review’. Your blog, which is a PR1, and Ashley’s blog, which is a PR3. Ashley’s review post will be the first link the show on Google search and yours will be second.
 
People are more likely to click Ashley’s because her’s is at the top, it’s at the top because the PR is higher. Generally the top 3 search results are the most popular.
 
Of course, there is a lot more to it that that – but that is the simplest way to explain it. There will be thousands of results for ‘Naked 3 palette review’ and google will take much more into consideration, such as the title, subtitles, headings, how many times the keywords and related words are in on the page, how much traffic the page has, how many times the page has been searched. To improve your results on search engines, you need to understand SEO (search engine optimisation). I do have a post on SEO for you to read if you are confused. 
 
I’ll be posting how to increase your PageRank soon and you can check what your current PR is here.
 
For now, let’s take a look at the chat:
 

Q1 : What’s your understanding of Page Rank, is it important?

@NoorsLense my understanding is it’s the value google gives you in order to prioritise search results #socialbloggers
— Corinne (@bloggerforums) April 26, 2014

@NoorsLense Basically how google ranks your blog among the sea of other blogs based on important and prominence. #socialbloggers
— Somdyuti Datta Ray (@hellodyuti) April 26, 2014

@theclumsybeauty @NoorsLense @bloggerforums for me, sometimes it’s just better to not worry about all that & enjoy blogging #socialbloggers
— Somdyuti Datta Ray (@hellodyuti) April 26, 2014

@hellodyuti @theclumsybeauty @NoorsLense that’s how it started for me but then I got nosey and geeky =) #socialbloggers
— Corinne (@bloggerforums) April 26, 2014

@hellodyuti @NoorsLense @bloggerforums A good mind set! #socialbloggers
— The Clumsy Beauty (@theclumsybeauty) April 26, 2014

@theclumsybeauty nope. It’s something that goes on higher level of blogging (pro stuff) , so it’s not anything bad #socialbloggers
— Noor Unnahar (@NoorsLense) April 26, 2014

@bloggerforums @hellodyuti @theclumsybeauty @NoorsLense yes! I hate the technology aspect of blogging!!
— Breaking Beauty (@beauty_breaking) April 26, 2014

@hellodyuti @theclumsybeauty @NoorsLense you can, you don’t have to know about page rank to get a rank! it happens naturally #socialbloggers
— Corinne (@bloggerforums) April 26, 2014

@bloggerforums @NoorsLense Its where all the SEO stuff takes you pretty much #socialbloggers
— Elif (@theboxqueen) April 26, 2014

I understand that page ranking is important but I would have no idea how to do it! #socialbloggers
— Megblog (@NotRealiMeg) April 26, 2014

It’s been said that WordPress gives blog a better page rank than Blogger’s blog. Does it really? #socialbloggers
— Noor Unnahar (@NoorsLense) April 26, 2014

For all those asking how to find their page rank MozBar do a great Google Chrome extension! #socialbloggers
— Charley (@charleylucy) April 26, 2014

I’ve never really understood the concept of pager and and why it’s important. Don’t really care tbh does that make me bad? #socialbloggers
— Kal (@ClutteredC) April 26, 2014

Q2 : What’s the best way to improve your blogs Page Rank? 

@NoorsLense Posting regular content, traffic and having links to your site from sites with a higher page rank than yours #socialbloggers
— Corinne (@bloggerforums) April 26, 2014

@bloggerforums @NoorsLense Collabs and challenges such as blogging every day for a month are a great way of doing this! #socialbloggers
— Charley (@charleylucy) April 26, 2014

@NoorsLense @bloggerforums I would have to agree with Corinne. Regular content! But this is very hard 4 me cause I work full time!
— stephanie (@MechanicsWife72) April 26, 2014

@NoorsLense @bloggerforums To me, the best way to improve PR is by writing quality content and using SEO wisely #socialbloggers
— Somdyuti Datta Ray (@hellodyuti) April 26, 2014

Q3 : What Page Rank would you deem as ‘successful’? 

 

@NoorsLense the highest blog I’ve seen is a 6! #socialbloggers
— Corinne (@bloggerforums) April 26, 2014

@NoorsLense I would be happy with a 3 =) #socialbloggers
— Corinne (@bloggerforums) April 26, 2014

@iliketweet @bloggerforums I lost mine at 2. After the domain , so it’s like going back to track #socialbloggers
— Noor Unnahar (@NoorsLense) April 26, 2014

@bloggerforums @NoorsLense I know we aren’t supposed to focus on the “numbers” but I’d b happy w more than 1 follower! Just say n
— stephanie (@MechanicsWife72) April 26, 2014

@bloggerforums @NoorsLense but on the flip side I know it’s half my fault because I’m not a regular blogger
— stephanie (@MechanicsWife72) April 26, 2014

@NoorsLense @bloggerforums as of now I have 2 and I’m pretty happy with it. But obviously, the higher the better. #socialbloggers
— Somdyuti Datta Ray (@hellodyuti) April 26, 2014

What are you thoughts and feelings around Google PageRank?
If you have any questions, please ask them below and I’ll try to answer them in my next post.

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G'wan, delve a little further..

1. noun: a female blogger that writes about her own experiences, observations and opinions. 2. verb: to act like a complete idiot or to do something stupid. e.g: She did a Corinne.

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