#socialbloggers 13 - Understanding Google PageRank

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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28 comments

I have never thought about this before! Seriously, you gave such great tips! I’m a new follower 🙂

xx,
felishmichelle.blogspot.com

Thanks very much for posting !!! very helpful 🙂
Melissa | The Inked Blonde

I’m having a page rank nightmare. My PR dropped from a 2 to a 0 at the last update. I checked my Google Webmaster Tools and there’s no manual action or message. I have no idea why it was dropped or how to fix it. I’ve started by going through changing all appropriate links to nofollow and fixing all my broken links as that’s all I can think it could be. However, when you have a manual action note from Google you have the opportunity to resubmit but without a manual action there’s no option to resubmit. I’m not best pleased.

Corinne says:

April 30, 2014 at 12:48 am

Oh no, that sounds like a nightmare! I’ve heard about this happening to bloggers, it must be very frustrating. Hopefully you can get a better PR in the next update!

Reply

I’ve never really understood the concept of pager and and why it’s important.
I’m a new follower .

http://rapideinfo.net/

You explained it so well Corinne!! I don’t care about my GPR but I have to admit I check my Alexa rank very often 😀 Have a happy Monday!!

xx Mira

Corinne says:

April 30, 2014 at 12:48 am

Haha, Alexa is fab because it updates so often!

Reply

I do not emphasize to much where I rank I enjoy blogging rank or not. Good question doll
http://tifi11.blogspot.com

nice post , nice to know that
xo

http://devsnochaos.blogspot.fr/

This was such useful information, I had not much of an idea about how Google Ranking worked before, thanks for the details. Wishing you a fruitful week ahead hun!

Great post dear :))

http://kappa-girl.blogspot.com/

I hadn´t heard about this in my life! It is totally new for me. Thanks for sharing the page where we can see our ranking. Kisses:)

PR is so important and you did a great job explaining everything. I would love to take part in the #SocialBloggers chat next time, I have never heard about it before! 🙂

Tanja Mortensen

Corinne says:

April 30, 2014 at 12:49 am

It’s every Saturday 6pm GMT time =)

Reply

This is a great post! Page Rank can be quite confusing when you first find out about it.

Great post! I’ve been trying to increase my rank for ages
Keep in touch
xx
http://www.JuneWantsItAll.com

You have made understanding page rank so simple, This is a great series of posts.Very useful.

Corinne says:

April 30, 2014 at 12:49 am

I’m glad you found it helpful, Nayna!

Reply

Your review is very interessant 🙂

Did not even think about page rank until the chat! And this post was very helpful!

I used to think about page rankings when I blogged but I eventually decided that the most important thing was writing something meaningful that people would want to read and including relevant photos, and many times embedded relevant videos. When I changed things, especially if I changed titles of things, my rankings usually dropped for a while. I try Googling myself and my main blogging and Vlogging topic (full brief panties) my blog (http://www.full-brief-panties.blogspot.com/) comes up on the second page. When I just Googled my Name (Panty Buns) my YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/misterpantybuns is the top listing on the first page. I’m obviously happy with the name being number one, but I’d love to have my blog name be number one too. I will definitely read your SEO tips. I’ve read being too aggressive with some methods of SEO can hurt. Do you know if that’s true? Interesting subject anyway.

Corinne says:

April 30, 2014 at 12:52 am

Yes, it can hurt! If you are being aggressive to the point when you are trying to manipulate Google, then the will strip your rank. Google is the best search engine out there and prides itself on getting the most relevant, quality information to it’s users. Unfortunately some people try to manipulate the system in order to rank high even if they don’t deserve it.

Reply

It was pretty helpful , also I didn’t know many people never cared about it. I am relieved!!
Noor @ Noor’s Place

I knew about Page Rank, but I didn’t know it was not updated regularly. LOL So this was great to read Corinne. It has a lot of influence.
http://www.averysweetblog.com/

Corinne says:

April 30, 2014 at 12:47 am

I didn’t know either until recently!

Reply

That was so helpfull! I am new at blogging and really liked your post!

Could you check out my blog and follow it on bloglovin? I will follow back!
I have a new post every day!

Stay fancy!
xxx kelly-Louise

fancysince1992.blogspot.de

Corinne says:

April 30, 2014 at 12:46 am

I’ll check out your blog, but I don’t follow for follow – sorry =)

Reply

Thanks so much for posting this, I missed the chat so this is really useful!! I’m terrible with all the technical blogging bits so its nice to see it put simply! Thanks 🙂

jotlotte.blogspot.co.uk

#socialbloggers 13 – Understanding Google PageRank