PageRank Myths

PageRanks are a very important aspect to determining whether a webpage generates traffic or not. Moreover, it can indicate whether a website provides an actual service, or if it’s no more than an Internet tourists’ trap.

Because of this, PageRanks are important to you – the affiliate. If you want to be able to prove that you’re worth a better affiliation deal, your pagerank will be one of the first things that will be looked at.

So what is a PageRank?

In the most basic definition, pageranks refer to the assessed importance of a webpage as provided by Google. There is a special algorithm put use by Google, but we will not delve into these technicalities here, but rather focus on what pageranks are and most importantly, what they aren’t.

MYTH #1 – Websites Have PageRanks

This is incorrect. Each specific page has a pagerank of its own and there is no median or average for the whole website. Typically, your site will be valued by your homepage’s pagerank. Even if you have a specific page that has attracted more traffic and has a higher pagerank, it does not reflect well when a specific page has a higher pagerank than the homepage – it indicates that the one article is more valued than your entire site. Furthermore, it shows that people don’t really know about your website – it only means they ran into your article via search or link.

MYTH #2 – PageRank Relies on Traffic

While traffic is undoubtedly important, it is by no means the only factor that is considered when generating your pagerank. This means that a page with a rank of 3 could potentially bring in more traffic than a page with a rank of 6. PageRanks are easily affected by good linkbuilding (more on that in a different article), content, and some more technical issues that concern domains, servers, etc.

MYTH #3 – PageRank is the Only Factor to Consider for Links

This logic is seriously flawed. It is true that a link from a low-ranked page usually hurts your pagerank, but it is NOT always true. Imagine having a link from a large and well-known website sub-page (such as MTV.com) that has a rank of 1 – this will not hurt your pagerank, it will help.

MYTH #4 – Links are Basis for PageRank

This notion is completely false. Pageranks are based on Google’s indexing, keywords and association algorithms. It is true that links are an important aspect, but quality content can be just as helpful in the long run.

MYTH #5 – High PageRanks Bring More Traffic

This is absolutely false. PageRanks only come into play when you’re doing business. The majority of end-users have no idea about pageranks and will not judge your website based on its metrics.

To conclude, pageranks are an important factor of your webpage, but it is not the only one. Quality content and good linking will naturally bring higher pageranks and not vice-versa.