This is a response to the request asking how page rank works.

What is google page rank?

It is a number given to you by the Alimighty G. It represents how "strong" your website is. The levels of page rank are from 0-10, with 10 being the best rank. These PR 10 sites are highly popular sites that get tons of links, which is why they get a high PR.Example of a PR 10 site www.usa.gov

Every site that links to your site gives you a little bit of PR. The higher the PR of the site linking to you, the higher the PR you will gain. That's basically what PR is, a number given to you by google in regards to how link "strong" your website is. Get more links, you get more PR. The higher the PR page that is giving you links, the more PR you will get. Just 1 link from a PR6 page would equate into literally thousands of tiny PR0-1 links. A PR10 page linking to you would instantly make you look good in Google's eyes. But quit dreaming, you will never get a PR10 link :)

I have tons of links, why don't I have any PR??

PR, or at least the PR displayed in our toolbars, is not updated every day/week/month. It's updated (i think) every 4 months. I'm not sure but I think the last update was this december. If you still don't get a PR update after 4 months(april), it simply means that your links are either all coming from pages that are not indexed, or have the "Nofollow" attribute.

What is a noffolow link?

A nofollow link is a link with "rel=nofollow" in the anchor text. Example : <a href="hubpages.com" rel="Nofollow">Hubpages.com</a>. This will tell the seach engines not to follow your link, and not pass on PR. If you see some sites that have "Sponsored listings" or "Buy a link here" highlight the links and view their selection source. You will probably notice "rel=nofollow" in the anchor text, otherwise report them for selling links and get them deindexed or stripped of PR lol! Google does not allow selling links unless you attach the nofollow attribute.

Why did you say PR is not important?

Because page rank does not give you anything but a pretty number beside your toolbar. PR means nothing unless the links pointed to your website is properly anchored. If your site is about "cool hubpages" but the links you are getting is anchored to "Click here!" then you are not telling google you are about "cool hubpages", you are telling google you are about "Click here!".

What does this all mean? It means you will most likely be found when someone searches "click here!"(highly unlikely in the real world, but in this example it is lol) but not when someone seaches "cool hubpages".

That is how google knows what you are about, it's 90% links pointing to you, 10% the actual content in your website.

Another example, you want to rank high for the keyword "Cat grooming tips" then you should work your ass off on getting links pointing to your site anchored to "cat grooming tips". Just incase you don't know how to or what anchoring means it is the text you use instead of your URL.

A noob's way of building links: <a href=example.com>Click here</a> to see my cat grooming website!

Someone who knows how to build links:Click here to see my <a href=example.com> cat grooming </a> website!

You will get PR for both examples, but so what? Like I said PR means nothing unless it is anchored properly :) The first examples gets indexed under "click here" while the second example gets indexed for "cat grooming", get it?

What is Google PageRank for then?

It's great for boosting your other sites up the SERPs. It's also always better getting PROPERLY anchored links pointing to your website from high PR sites. I'm just saying that it isn't as imporant as what most people think. But when properly anchored, and pointing to your website, you will recieve a better boost in the SERPs if it comes from a PR4,5 or 6 then a PR 0, 1, or 2.

Another example before I stop ranting. You and your friend want to rank for the term "Dog biscuits". You friend managed to get 1 PR4 link, but it is anchored to "click here!" while you on the other hand managed to only get 1 PR2 link, anchored to "dog biscuits", who do you think would rank higher?

You would rank higher! He would have more PR, but you would defintelty outrank him on the SERPs for your keyword.because it is anchored to "dog biscuits" and his is to "click here!"

To sum up ranking, the higher the PR your site has does not necessarily mean the better you rank for a given keyword, it just means you have a lot of links pointing to you. Where you rank on the SERPs is dependent on the anchored text used in links pointing to you. Properly anchored or poorly anchored, you still gain PR (which again is useless if not properly anchored :) )

I hope you guys understood SOMETHING about this, I'm not a very good teacher. Good luck!

(this was written by my husband. I know nothing about PR Haha)