Many publishers think the quickest way to garner a decent PageRank or PR rating is to get sites that have high PageRank to link to them. The thought is that if a page with a high PageRank links to you, its PageRank transfers to you. While this is somewhat true, the process is more involved.

The fact of the matter is that Goolge's algorithm that determines PageRank sets a different formula for how much PR can be passed on. It states that a page can only pass on its PageRank divided by the number of outbound links it has. This basically translates into the results expected from gaining links not quite being as beneficial as a lot of publishers might think.

A site with a PR number of 7 won't pass on that 7 directly. If, for example, the site has 6 incoming links and yours makes 7, the number passed on is 1. Another thing that some webmasters fail to understand is that the number passed on is the one reflective of the page the link appears on. If that 7 is for the homepage and the link page only has a rating of 5, the real number will be lower.

Now, if you consider all those big hitting sites out there with great PR rates, but hundreds of outbound links competing for a slice of the pie, it becomes clear that they aren't necessarily the best to target for reciprocal links.

There is a better path to take. The strategy here involves going for sites that have more modest PageRank numbers. Look for those that are relatively new, but show signs of getting better over time. If these sites have good content and seem to be reputable, they can be very good PR generators. Going after lower PageRank sites might not seem wise, but it really can be a good long term strategy.

The reasons these sites pay off better for long term strategy are many. One of the top is the fact it is generally much easier to get a newly ranked site to place outbound links. Plus, they are also more likely to put links on their front page. In addition, these sites don't tend to have a lot of links in place and good ones will have topic-related keywords that can help with Google. Also, it is much more likely to get these folks to use a keyword phrase in the link. All of these reasons are good, but the best for targeting these sites is that they tend to grow in PR over time. As they do, so will you.

Before jumping into find sites to target for reciprocal linking, it is smart to research them a bit. Avoid sites that have very low PageRank. Those that show up in the white or gray should be discounted. Gray, in fact, could be a negative draw for your site. These colors indicate sites without PageRank and can even indicate banned sites.

If you're still scratching your head about the value of lower ranked sites, just do the math. A link from a page that's ranked at PR 4 and only has two outbound links will give you a PR boost of 2. A page that's PageRank is 8 with 16 outbound links will only give you a PR boost of .5. Which makes more sense? Obviously, it's better to target the lower PR site in this example.

Print

Tell friend

Top

---