09 Mar Why Do I Even Need SEO?

PR as in Puerto Rico? No Silly, PageRank!

Google has a strong fundamental belief in making the internet a better place to virtually surf. The tools and applications Google develops to protect your search experience are designed for security and productive assistance. So when it comes to optimizing your website for search engines, the techniques used by Search Engine Optimization (SEO) professionals become a main go-to for daily activity. Google’s PageRank is an SEO tool that counts the number of links directing searchers to a website and uses those numbers to score the pages. The more links, the more important a web page is.

Where every SEO tool Google, and the many other search engines, creates is programmed to scour the web for distinct information, PageRank pertains to the popularity of a website. A site’s popularity is the result of the numerous reasons people would want to visit your website. It also pertains to the reasoning for people wanting to send others to your site as well.

Consider these two big reasons for popularity increases:

• Content Relevance – The more helpful and informative your content is, the more people will be inclined to revisit and suggest your website. Also, make sure the content is up to date and commonly verified or accepted.
• Personal Gain – Other website creators will link to a higher ranked webpage as a gateway for internet surfers to visit their relative site. Back-linking and other link techniques can be mutually beneficial or just plain annoying.

The PageRank relies on a scoring system that goes from 0 to 10; ten being the highest rank a web page can receive. The more important Google finds a page once it is created, the higher the score will move up. It’s as simple as that! When starting out, your page will have a zero regardless of how vital your website may actually be to inquiring minds. Once it begins to interact with other pages and is deemed safe, over time it will rise in PR score.

Recently, Google announced that it will be removing the PageRank meter from the Google Toolbar. Its purpose as a tool for public use has run out not that Google is as popular as it has become. Even though we will no longer be able to see it, it will still be used internally when the Google algorithms decipher our web pages.  Some find PR’s public end a good thing. Others, not so much. No matter your feelings either way, say goodbye to the outdated scoring system!