- The Karcher Group
- Web Marketing
- Link Building
- Google PageRank
Is Google PageRank Important?
Here's an infuriating response: a little bit, but mostly no.
Do you know someone (maybe yourself) who's really superstitious? Take our treasurer, Megan Karcher, for example. She makes her entire family eat sauerkraut every year on New Year's Day, and if they don't she worries, frets and blames everything bad that happens for the entire year on that person! Obsessing about Google PageRank® is a lot like being superstitious - you can cause yourself a lot of stress chasing a great PageRank and it may not make that much difference in your site's success.
What exactly is Google PageRank®?
Google PageRank® is the process by which Google decides the value of a web page. This value is determined by the number, quality and relevance of pages linking to your page. Once examined, the page will be given a rating between zero and ten, zero being the lowest and ten being the highest. Each page on a website will have its own PageRank, the home page is likely to have the highest PageRank because it typically has the most pages linking to it.
While Google PageRank® should not be considered the ultimate gauge of search engine optimization and link building success, it can be useful to see how you stack up against your competition. Also, if a site has a PageRank of zero, that can indicate that a site has been penalized by the search engines or lacks inbound links.
That said, we beg you not to obsess about your PageRank. Obtaining higher PageRank should never be the goal of any marketing campaign (and believe us, we've been asked, "please, just improve my PageRank!"). PageRank is just an estimate, and there are many, many factors besides PageRank that affect a site's worth. It is due to this that it is possible for a site with a PageRank of five to have higher search engine ranking than a page with a PageRank of seven. Instead of letting PageRank consume your thoughts, think instead about improving your incoming links, website content, design, etc.
Also, don't evaluate an incoming link solely based on its PageRank. PageRank, as you see it on the toolbar, is only updated every few months and may not be accurate. It is also possible for a site's PageRank to suddenly go up. Ask yourself instead: does this site send good, relevant traffic to my website?
