PageRank is Google’s way of determining a website’s worth based on the number of incoming links it has. Essentially, Google counts the number of links pointing to the site and interprets it as confidence votes. Simply put, the more votes for a site, the worthier the site is in the eyes of Google.
Website Ranking
During the years that the web was emerging, numerous sites that have industry-specific content were continuously being added to the web daily. Web surfers or se...
PageRank is Google’s way of determining a website’s worth based on the number of incoming links it has. Essentially, Google counts the number of links pointing to the site and interprets it as confidence votes. Simply put, the more votes for a site, the worthier the site is in the eyes of Google.
Website Ranking
During the years that the web was emerging, numerous sites that have industry-specific content were continuously being added to the web daily. Web surfers or searchers had very few tools to locate these sites which they knew existed but had no idea on how they can be accessed. The birth of Yahoo provided some relief as it organized its directory listing by classifying each site it discovered and likewise embedded a search engine in its site. This started the use of keywords existing in the database for site searching. Other search engines followed suit with the search trend and relied heavily on Meta tags to classify the relevance of a website based on keywords found in the tags.
Everything seemed to work out just fine until site owners and webmasters realized the potential of embedding industry specific keyword phrases in their Meta tags and other site codes to manipulate higher rankings in search results. Search engines started getting cluttered with sites that spammed their content with the abuse of relevant keywords. Most had the keywords but had poor content. The credibility and relevance of search engines were being challenged so they had to think of a way to offer a more refined output to users.
Google saw the problem which conventional search engines had to face in this situation. It recognized the fact that as long as the control of relevance remained with webmasters, the ranking results would continue to be contaminated with the presence of high ranking sites that artificially inflate their keyword relevance. By the very nature of the web, it is accepted that the web is based on hyperlinks where a site is largely measured by its linkage to prominent sites and the number of links it has. There is the assumption that a site is good and important if more sites link to it.
The Google founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page took this logic further when they formulated a search engine algorithm that shifted the ranking weight to off-page factors. They came up with a formula called the PageRank where the algorithm would count the number of sites that link to a page and assign it an importance score on a scale of 1-10. The Google scale is not linear but rather exponential in nature.
The PageRank algorithm which was named after its founder, Larry Page, was deployed with the launch of Google in 1998. The successful result enabled Google to surpass its competition due to the superior and relevant results it was able to serve using their formula that was difficult to manipulate. The new algorithm helped in providing authentic and quality information while presenting a challenge to site owners and webmasters who cheat their way to top rank. Google’s PageRank is considered one of the primary off-page factors that influence a page’s ranking in the search engine result pages. The PageRank value of any page can be checked by downloading the Google Toolbar.
Google’s PageRank
PageRank is explained by Google in the following manner:
“PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote by page A for page B. But Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves “important” weigh more heavily and help to make other pages “important”. Important, high-quality sites receive a higher PageRank which Google remembers each time it conducts a search. Of course, important pages mean nothing to you if they don’t match your query. So Google combines PageRank with sophisticated text-matching techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to your search. Google goes far beyond the number of times a term appears on a page and examines all aspects of the page’s content (and the content of the pages linking to it) to determine if it’s a good match for your query.”
The exact algorithm of each search engine is a confidential matter. However, search engine analysts believe that ranking is a product of a combination of page relevance and PageRank. The search results of Google search are admittedly high in terms of relevance. This is largely responsible for the resounding success it is experiencing. Other major search engines have adapted this logic in some form with variations on the assigned importance of this value.
The Google Toolbar is downloaded for free and can be installed in the user’s Internet Explorer within minutes. It facilitates the display of the PageRank of each web page visited on a scale of 1-10. It does not display the PageRank of web pages that it has not indexed. The PageRank displayed by the Toolbar refers to individual pages and not to the site as a whole.
Most search engines place significant importance on link popularity in evaluating the importance of web pages ranking and indexing purposes. The system of Link Popularity is based on the number and quality of links connected to a website page. This is used in conjunction with the quality of sites that are linked to the website, the quality of content and the industry relevance to the site.
A webpage that links to one site passes a portion of its own PageRank value in the process. The higher the PageRank of the linking page, the higher the value passed. PageRank is divided over the total outgoing links of the linking page. In essence, a link from a PR10 webpage with 20 outgoing links represents more value than a link with a page of the same PageRank that has 100 outgoing links. Pursuing links from higher PR web pages with lesser number of total outgoing links should be prioritized.
One of the more critical aspects of search engine marketing is the building of link popularity. The manipulation of PageRank is neither easy nor recommended but PageRank can be enhanced by improving link popularity. A long term link building campaign should be undertaken to boost a site’s PageRank and consequently achieve a significant improvement in site ranking. Off-page factors continue to gain importance in ranking websites thus it has become necessary to actively boost such factors to favor the website. Exchanging links with sites falling under the same industry segment has become more open as webmasters finally realize the importance of link popularity and PageRank.
Kamis, 06 Oktober 2011
How to Protect Your Search Engine Rankings
Your website's ranking on search engines is a vital element of your overall marketing campaign, and there are ways to improve your link popularity through legitimate methods.
Unfortunately, the Internet is populated by bands of dishonest webmasters seeking to improve their link popularity by faking out search engines.
The good news is that search engines have figured this out, and are now on guard for "spam" pages and sites that have increased their rankings by artificial methods. When a search engines tracks down such a site, that site is demoted in ranking or completely removed from the search engine's index.
The bad news is that some high quality, completely above-board sites are being mistaken for these web page criminals. Your page may be in danger of being caught up in the "spam" net and tossed from a search engine's index, even though you have done nothing to deserve such harsh treatment. But there are things you can do - and things you should be sure NOT to do - which will prevent this kind of misperception.
Link popularity is mostly based on the quality of sites you are linked to. Google pioneered this criteria for assigning website ranking, and virtually all search engines on the Internet now use it. There are legitimate ways to go about increasing your link popularity, but at the same time, you must be scrupulously careful about which sites you choose to link to. Google frequently imposes penalties on sites that have linked to other sites solely for the purpose of artificially boosting their link popularity. They have actually labelled these links "bad neighbourhoods."
You can raise a toast to the fact that you cannot be penalized when a bad neighbourhood links to your site; penalty happens only when you are the one sending out the link to a bad neighbourhood. But you must check, and double-check, all the links that are active on your links page to make sure you haven't linked to a bad neighbourhood.
The first thing to check out is whether or not the pages you have linked to have been penalized. The most direct way to do this is to download the Google toolbar at http://toolbar.google.com. You will then see that most pages are given a "Pagerank" which is represented by a sliding green scale on the Google toolbar.
Do not link to any site that shows no green at all on the scale. This is especially important when the scale is completely grey. It is more than likely that these pages have been penalized. If you are linked to these pages, you may catch their penalty, and like the flu, it may be difficult to recover from the infection.
There is no need to be afraid of linking to sites whose scale shows only a tiny sliver of green on their scale. These sites have not been penalized, and their links may grow in value and popularity. However, do make sure that you closely monitor these kind of links to ascertain that at some point they do not sustain a penalty once you have linked up to them from your links page.
Another evil trick that illicit webmasters use to artificially boost their link popularity is the use of hidden text. Search engines usually use the words on web pages as a factor in forming their rankings, which means that if the text on your page contains your keywords, you have more of an opportunity to increase your search engine ranking than a page that does not contain text inclusive of keywords.
Some webmasters have gotten around this formula by hiding their keywords in such a way so that they are invisible to any visitors to their site. For example, they have used the keywords but made them the same colour as the background colour of the page, such as a plethora of white keywords on a white background. You cannot see these words with the human eye - but the eye of search engine spider can spot them easily! A spider is the program search engines use to index web pages, and when it sees these invisible words, it goes back and boosts that page's link ranking.
Webmasters may be brilliant and sometimes devious, but search engines have figured these tricks out. As soon as a search engine perceive the use of hidden text - splat! the page is penalized.
The downside of this is that sometimes the spider is a bit overzealous and will penalize a page by mistake. For example, if the background colour of your page is grey, and you have placed grey text inside a black box, the spider will only take note of the grey text and assume you are employing hidden text. To avoid any risk of false penalty, simply direct your webmaster not to assign the same colour to text as the background colour of the page - ever!
Another potential problem that can result in a penalty is called "keyword stuffing." It is important to have your keywords appear in the text on your page, but sometimes you can go a little overboard in your enthusiasm to please those spiders. A search engine uses what is called "Keyphrase Density" to determine if a site is trying to artificially boost their ranking. This is the ratio of keywords to the rest of the words on the page. Search engines assign a limit to the number of times you can use a
keyword before it decides you have overdone it and penalizes your site.
This ratio is quite high, so it is difficult to surpass without sounding as if you are stuttering - unless your keyword is part of your company name. If this is the case,it is easy for keyword density to soar. So, if your keyword is "renters insurance," be sure you don't use this phrase in every sentence. Carefully edit the text on your site so that the copy flows naturally and the keyword is not repeated incessantly. A good rule of thumb is your keyword should never appear in more than half the sentences on the page.
The final potential risk factor is known as "cloaking." To those of you who are diligent Trekkies, this concept should be easy to understand. For the rest of you? Cloaking is when the server directs a visitor to one page and a search engine spider to a different page. The page the spider sees is "cloaked" because it is invisible to regular traffic, and deliberately set-up to raise the site's search engine ranking. A cloaked page tries to feed the spider everything it needs to rocket that page's ranking to the top of the list.
It is natural that search engines have responded to this act of deception with extreme enmity, imposing steep penalties on these sites. The problem on your end is that sometimes pages are cloaked for legitimate reasons, such as prevention against the theft of code, often referred to as "pagejacking." This kind of shielding is unnecessary these days due to the use of "off page" elements, such as link popularity, that cannot be stolen.
To be on the safe side, be sure that your webmaster is aware that absolutely no cloaking is acceptable. Make sure the webmaster understands that cloaking of any kind will put your website at great risk.
Just as you must be diligent in increasing your link popularity and your ranking, you must be equally diligent to avoid being unfairly penalized. So be sure to monitor your site closely and avoid any appearance of artificially boosting your rankings.
Unfortunately, the Internet is populated by bands of dishonest webmasters seeking to improve their link popularity by faking out search engines.
The good news is that search engines have figured this out, and are now on guard for "spam" pages and sites that have increased their rankings by artificial methods. When a search engines tracks down such a site, that site is demoted in ranking or completely removed from the search engine's index.
The bad news is that some high quality, completely above-board sites are being mistaken for these web page criminals. Your page may be in danger of being caught up in the "spam" net and tossed from a search engine's index, even though you have done nothing to deserve such harsh treatment. But there are things you can do - and things you should be sure NOT to do - which will prevent this kind of misperception.
Link popularity is mostly based on the quality of sites you are linked to. Google pioneered this criteria for assigning website ranking, and virtually all search engines on the Internet now use it. There are legitimate ways to go about increasing your link popularity, but at the same time, you must be scrupulously careful about which sites you choose to link to. Google frequently imposes penalties on sites that have linked to other sites solely for the purpose of artificially boosting their link popularity. They have actually labelled these links "bad neighbourhoods."
You can raise a toast to the fact that you cannot be penalized when a bad neighbourhood links to your site; penalty happens only when you are the one sending out the link to a bad neighbourhood. But you must check, and double-check, all the links that are active on your links page to make sure you haven't linked to a bad neighbourhood.
The first thing to check out is whether or not the pages you have linked to have been penalized. The most direct way to do this is to download the Google toolbar at http://toolbar.google.com. You will then see that most pages are given a "Pagerank" which is represented by a sliding green scale on the Google toolbar.
Do not link to any site that shows no green at all on the scale. This is especially important when the scale is completely grey. It is more than likely that these pages have been penalized. If you are linked to these pages, you may catch their penalty, and like the flu, it may be difficult to recover from the infection.
There is no need to be afraid of linking to sites whose scale shows only a tiny sliver of green on their scale. These sites have not been penalized, and their links may grow in value and popularity. However, do make sure that you closely monitor these kind of links to ascertain that at some point they do not sustain a penalty once you have linked up to them from your links page.
Another evil trick that illicit webmasters use to artificially boost their link popularity is the use of hidden text. Search engines usually use the words on web pages as a factor in forming their rankings, which means that if the text on your page contains your keywords, you have more of an opportunity to increase your search engine ranking than a page that does not contain text inclusive of keywords.
Some webmasters have gotten around this formula by hiding their keywords in such a way so that they are invisible to any visitors to their site. For example, they have used the keywords but made them the same colour as the background colour of the page, such as a plethora of white keywords on a white background. You cannot see these words with the human eye - but the eye of search engine spider can spot them easily! A spider is the program search engines use to index web pages, and when it sees these invisible words, it goes back and boosts that page's link ranking.
Webmasters may be brilliant and sometimes devious, but search engines have figured these tricks out. As soon as a search engine perceive the use of hidden text - splat! the page is penalized.
The downside of this is that sometimes the spider is a bit overzealous and will penalize a page by mistake. For example, if the background colour of your page is grey, and you have placed grey text inside a black box, the spider will only take note of the grey text and assume you are employing hidden text. To avoid any risk of false penalty, simply direct your webmaster not to assign the same colour to text as the background colour of the page - ever!
Another potential problem that can result in a penalty is called "keyword stuffing." It is important to have your keywords appear in the text on your page, but sometimes you can go a little overboard in your enthusiasm to please those spiders. A search engine uses what is called "Keyphrase Density" to determine if a site is trying to artificially boost their ranking. This is the ratio of keywords to the rest of the words on the page. Search engines assign a limit to the number of times you can use a
keyword before it decides you have overdone it and penalizes your site.
This ratio is quite high, so it is difficult to surpass without sounding as if you are stuttering - unless your keyword is part of your company name. If this is the case,it is easy for keyword density to soar. So, if your keyword is "renters insurance," be sure you don't use this phrase in every sentence. Carefully edit the text on your site so that the copy flows naturally and the keyword is not repeated incessantly. A good rule of thumb is your keyword should never appear in more than half the sentences on the page.
The final potential risk factor is known as "cloaking." To those of you who are diligent Trekkies, this concept should be easy to understand. For the rest of you? Cloaking is when the server directs a visitor to one page and a search engine spider to a different page. The page the spider sees is "cloaked" because it is invisible to regular traffic, and deliberately set-up to raise the site's search engine ranking. A cloaked page tries to feed the spider everything it needs to rocket that page's ranking to the top of the list.
It is natural that search engines have responded to this act of deception with extreme enmity, imposing steep penalties on these sites. The problem on your end is that sometimes pages are cloaked for legitimate reasons, such as prevention against the theft of code, often referred to as "pagejacking." This kind of shielding is unnecessary these days due to the use of "off page" elements, such as link popularity, that cannot be stolen.
To be on the safe side, be sure that your webmaster is aware that absolutely no cloaking is acceptable. Make sure the webmaster understands that cloaking of any kind will put your website at great risk.
Just as you must be diligent in increasing your link popularity and your ranking, you must be equally diligent to avoid being unfairly penalized. So be sure to monitor your site closely and avoid any appearance of artificially boosting your rankings.
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