April Blog 8 of 12: 5 Steps to Quickly Determine Your Google Pagerank
Google ranks websites in search engine results pages according to website Pagerank. Pagerank is calculated via complex algorithm (Google Magic) determined each time Google spiders index a website. Each website is given a score from 0 to 10. Pagerank is also determined based off which sites link to a particular site (which is why Google.com has very little “content” on it, but has millions of inbound links, and therefore a very high Pagerank). Perfect Pagerank scores of 10/10 are EXTREMELY rare, as less than 150 websites currently hold this score. Websites with this score are extremely scarce, as they all hold very valuable content unique to each site. Such sites include www.whitehouse.gov, www.w3.org, and www.google.com (duh).
So how important is Google Pagerank? Certainly a higher score is beneficial for search engines, but how much do they affect website popularity?
The guys at the Royal Pingdom blog completed some comprehensive Pagerank research in January 2010, and they released some very interesting data. The guys at Royal Pingdom surveyed the top 100 most visited websites, and they found that:
- - The average PageRank among the top 100 sites is 7.5.
- - Only two of the top 100 sites have PageRank 10: Google.com (position 1) and CNN.com (position 18).
- - The top 10 sites are all PageRank 8 or higher.
- - The first PageRank 7 site (Craigslist.com) shows up at position 11.
- - More than half of the sites are PageRank 8 or 9.
- - One third of the sites are PageRank 6 or 7.
- - Roughly 10% had PageRank 4 or 5.
How Can I find out my Pagerank?
The easiest way to find out your Pagerank is to simply download and install the Google toolbar, which includes a Pagerank checker. Simply follow this quick and easy process to install the Google Toolbar Pagerank Calculator:
- 1. Download & Install The Google Toolbar
- 2. Once Installed, Click Options
- 3. Click the Tools Tab
- 4. Check the Pagerank Box, then Save
You will now see a Pagerank icon in your toolbar, which automatically refreshes with each website you visit. This tool is completely accurate, up to date, and the most simple way available to constantly check website Pagerank with ease.
NOTE: YOU MUST SELECT “REMEMBER HISTORY” IN FIREFOX BROWSERS FOR THE PAGERANK TOOL TO WORK PROPERLY! FAILING TO DO SO WILL SHOW A “NO PAGERANK INFORMATION AVAILABLE” MESSAGE FOR EVERY WEBSITE.
Due to Daniel’s extensive and informative SEO Best Practices Blog from earlier this week, I think this will do it for Week 3 of the TriMark Solutions April Blog Event. Week 4 discusses Internet Marketing Strategies for Businesses, including lead tracking methods, services, and client reporting techniques. Stop by next week for more great SEO info!
2 Comments
I have seen that pages with moderately high page rank come up above in SERPs than the sites having higher page rank. Then, may I ask, what is the use of this Pagerank?
Good Morning Nikita, Thanks for the question!
If I’m understanding your questions correctly, I think you are asking why certain sites with a higher Pagerank sometimes rank lower than sites with a lower Pagerank. Pagerank is not the end-all, be-all of search engine results. There are a host of factors that determine search engine rankings, such as on-page optimization, inbound links, visitor interaction, etc. Pagerank is simply 1 factor that Google uses to determine the overall quality and usefulness of a website.
That being said, having a high Pagerank is always a good thing, and if a website with a lower Pagerank is outranking your website in search results, it may be a good idea to review that website’s onpage SEO, and see what it may be doing that your site is not. Changing up the keywords you are targeting and optimizing your title, h1 tags, content, etc, may prove useful, and may help your rankings rise.
Thanks for the question!