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15 December 2013 Adam Smith

A Way Of Thinking: PageRank Is An SEO By-Product

PageRank (PR) is a word which will never disappear from the SEO/SEM arena. For some, it’s an obsession. For me, it’s one of the most pointless factors when considering an internet marketing campaign, mainly due to the following factors:


  • You can only see a change in PageRank on a site every few months. Why focus all of your marketing around something which you can only measure three or four times a year?
  • It’s a number (one to ten.) It seems ridiculous to put a lot of time and effort with the main aim of changing this number.
  • A higher PageRank does not equal a better site. Nor does it mean a higher ranking site.


I don’t like being negative and I’m not one to rant. Besides, the “PageRank is bad” argument has been done to death. It’s not bad, it’s simply not worth bothering about. This post has the aim of: (a) convincing the PageRank obsessed folks to change their outlook and (b) helping fellow designers/developers/internet marketers to explain to people that what they heard from their friend simply isn’t true. Take the advice or leave it.

For those obsessed…

Checking the PageRank of your sites each week? Wondering when the next PR update will roll around? Why not take a look from a fresh perspective? After all, you can’t do anything about the PR of your site so why not concentrate elsewhere. And that very fact is is surely enough to convince you to think about PR differently. Instead of building incoming links from sites specifically selected for their high ranking PR (in order to boost your PR), try some of the following (and yes, they’ll also indirectly boost your PR):

  • Not straying too far from your comfort zone, why not concentrate on encouraging inbound links from some sites that share a similar theme? This will give your site’s ranking in the search engines a boost, especially if the inbound links contain keyphrases related to your site.
    But will it still increase my PageRank? Yes. The act of creating relevant inbound links will still up your PR


  • Sit and chat. By that I mean hang around communities that relate to your site and offer advice, opinion and intelligent debate to that community. Don’t spam and push your site but make sure people are aware of your site, perhaps using a subtle signature. Become an authoritative figure in that community and gain respect.
    But will it still increase my PageRank? Indirectly, yes. By becoming an authority on a given subject, those interested in that subject will link to you as a ‘guru’ or ‘expert.’ And up goes the PR. People are upping your PR for you now. Hurrah.


  • Focus on content and readership. Start writing more quality content for your visitors. Again, become an authority figure within your niche. This will naturally lead to an increase in readership. Whilst improving your content, also think of ways to reach out to new readers. Offer something useful for free, perhaps, or possibly consider using newer technologies to let people know you exist.
    But will it still increase my PageRank? Again, it will in turn. Better content is more likely to get linked to. And more readers means that there is a higher chance of getting linked to. Which means more PR.


Just aiming for an increase in PR will give you just that, a higher PR. Mission complete. But why not do all of the above and boost your site’s traffic, respect and reach whilst also increasing your PR? PageRank has become a bi-product of your marketing. Why would you only want to focus on PR now? Let me know your thoughts on this by commenting below.


Despite what I’ve mentioned above, there are always a few situations where PageRank comes into play. It is worth noting your PageRank down and checking it every couple of months in case you need it in the following situations:

Ads: If you are selling adverts on your site via a third-party, that third-party may calculate the ad rate based on your PR. Therefore, yes, a higher PR does help. You could always manage your own adverts though.

Banned: If you have a site with PageRank (PR1+) and it suddenly disappears, it may be an indication that Google isn’t happy with you. A quick check to see if you’re banned would be recommended if this happens.

(A Simple) Conclusion

Think less about PageRank, and care more about your visitors and how to attract new ones.


Image source: Paloma Gomez | Flickr