PageRank, SEO and Link Building Myths

I am sure we have all heard of PageRank, Google's famous algorithm that decides where pages rank within its index. There are many factors taken into consideration when deciding on where a site ranks, however one of the main factors is related to how your site fits in on the web's link graph.

In order to rank higher on Google you need to engage in off page search engine optimisation, ensuring you have the best possible links pointing back to your site. There are many issues around what makes a good link. It is true that you should be looking to create links from authority sites, sites that are relevant to the content on your pages. There are however a few myths that we need to get around before fully implementing out SEO strategy.

Many say that a link is only worth acquiring if it is from a page which already has been awarded some page rank, in fact many would say the higher the page rank the better. This is a shallow link building mindset as there is so much more you need to think about.

First of all, if a link is from a relevant page it really doesn't matter how much page rank the linking page has. A relevant link will pass relevance to your page and help you better target your chosen keyword phrases. Another aspect to think about is domain authority. A page may not have any page rank but is the domain a trusted well linked to domain? If so it will still be worth acquiring a link.

If you get a link from a high page rank page that has no relevance it will do little for your overall SEO campaign. SEO is about ranking for keywords, everything you do should be aimed at making your pages more relevant to the keywords you are targeting. This is why anchoring your back links correctly is vital to your overall success. Where possible you should be creating back links using your target keywords, this will not always be possible but where it is, get it done.

A huge linking myth is that directories and article marketing are a waste of time. Many webmasters believe this due to the fact the articles are held on low page rank pages. This is not true, remember that when you market an article, you are allowed to create a targeted page title, targeted content and a targeted anchor text, clearly worth the effort of putting an article together. Not only this but a lot of article directories have huge amounts of domain authority therefore a link from this sort of domain will build your sites trust on Google.

The main things to look for in a link are page rank, domain authority, relevance and anchor text. Even if you can only satisfy one of these factors the link will be worth the effort.