If you run a website or blog it’s likely that you’ve already heard about Google Page Rank (PR).  Whether you have or you haven’t, today we are going to explain to you what Google Page Rank is and how you can analyse your website’s status in the eyes of the big G.  There are a lot of misconceptions surrounding this subject and it’s hard to get confused so hopefully this article will help you.

What is Google Page Rank?

Google Page Rank is an algorithm that rates a webpage depending on a multitude of factors.  No-one really knows what factors are involved in determining a page rank but it is widely believed that backlinks play a huge role.  However, not every backlink is given the same weight and hence a PR5 link is given much more value than a PR1.  Whilst many people believe that a website has a specific PR this is not entirely true, as Google Page Rank focuses on individual pages rather than the website as a whole.

How Important is Google Page Rank?

Google Page Rank is one of the factors that determine where a webpage appears in the search engines.  It is not the only factor as things such as keywords, content and the age of your site are the main determining factors here.  However what we can assume is that if two sites are equal in the standard of content and the keywords, the site that is higher on the search engine results will be the page with the higher PR.

How Can I Check My Page Rank?

We at Pingler have a tool that enables you to check the page rank of your webpages quickly and easily… and best of all it’s free.  The Page Rank Checker tool can be used by clicking here or by visiting the tools section of our website.  Using the tool is easy – all you need to do is enter the URL, click continue and voila.

How Can I Increase My Page Rank?

When you start a new website your website will automatically be given a PR0.  This is the lowest Page Rank value with the highest being 10.  Although each webpage is given a separate page ranking, your website as a whole will also have a page rank which will be an average of all the individual pages.  So in order to increase your page rank on your website as a whole you will need to work on building back links to every individual page on your site.

Google updates page ranks every few months so whilst it may seem like you are waiting around for ages without seeing any results, you will do in the end.  The best thing to do to ensure your page rank increases is to focus on getting links to your site from high quality sites in a similar niche to you.  Whilst focusing on good link building strategies, it’s also a good idea to keep away from anything that would harm your website.  This can include anything from automated link exchanges to linking to link farms – both are bad ideas and can decrease your Page Rank.

Each Page Rank level gets progressively harder to reach however if you put the effort into backlinking you are sure to see results in time.