Part of the guide: Blog Traffic
One of the biggest Page Rank misconceptions is that a link from a high Page Rank site is in fact a high Page Rank backlink. PR is given to every page, it’s not site wide. So if you want high PR backlinks, you need links from the exact pages with the Page Rank.
Whether it be high Page Rank home pages or internal pages. All high PR sites will have high PR internal pages. Page Rank flows through all live links. It’s distributed throughout your site, but not evenly unless you manipulate it. The fastest way to increase your Page Rank is to manipulate it on-page.
An SEO Silo is perfect for retaining your site’s Page Rank and evenly distributing a large “portion” of it internally. If you want your home page to keep all the PR, limit the number of outbound links as well as internal links.
With all outbound links, it’s a good idea to add a no-follow tag to them. A no-follow tag will tell the search engines not to follow the link or funnel any Page Rank its way. So remember the more pages your site has, the less PR your homepage will retain and the less Page Rank each page will receive from the home.
If you go out and build 10,000 PR1-4 backlinks to your home page, it might get a Page Rank of 5. If then your site has 10 pages, each one might become a PR3-4. On the odd occasion, your internal pages will have the same or greater PR of your home page.
If any of your internal pages have a greater Page Rank than your home, sort it out. You need to channel that precious PR juice back to your home page by using a link to it and eliminating/no following any others.
So how do you increase Page Rank?
There are many ways to increase the Page Rank of your site, but I’d say there are only two practical tactics:
- Close The PR Holes
- Build More Links
The first thing you can do to increase the Page Rank of your site is to close the PR holes. If you have any external links, you have holes. They are like leaks in your massive pool of PR juice.
To close up the leaks either get rid of the external links or use a simple no-follow tag (rel=nofollow). That will immediately give your site a boost and help preserve its precious Page Rank.
The obvious second strategy is to build more links. Build a diverse range of backlinks. Don’t just focus on high Page Rank backlinks, that’s unnatural. You need to build a steady flow of links from all kinds of link building techniques to create a somewhat natural link profile.
Along the way, you’ll obtain crazy amounts of PR juice and boost your site’s Page Rank score. To get fast PR results, focus on high PR blog commenting and building high-quality web2.0 sites (build the web2.0’s, add lots of posts and backlink them). Guest blogging and other strategies work too.
That just about covers Page Rank and all you really need to know.
In Prosperity,
David Wood
P.S. Leave me your thoughts, comments, and questions below.
Comments
StockMonkeys, March 19 2012, 12:45
I don’t know about the idea of getting rid of external links. It seems contrary to how the Internet and major sites function. Many high-authority sites have multiple external links in their posts, and they still maintain high Page Rank. It just doesn’t seem like an appropriate move to eliminate all external links.
connectmediadk, March 19 2012, 14:00
This is directly wrong. In 2009 Google changed the PageRank algorithm, so link juice is still passed through a nofollow link. It flows out into “nothing.” So your advice to close the holes by no-following external links is incorrect.
hidehub, March 19 2012, 15:30
Thanks, it’s a great post. I always look for ways to increase my site’s rank. Hope this helps me.
Ninfa Carpenter, March 19 2012, 16:45
Like your videos, Dave. Awesome info.
Matt, March 19 2012, 17:00
You were never meant to do this alone
Reading this changes nothing. Doing it with people who show up changes everything. That is the whole difference between the people who transform and the people who keep starting over.
Start free →What makes you think that legitimate links to sites, like your Facebook and Twitter profile pages, would actually create a leak? Isn’t this the purpose of how the web was set up? I find it hard to believe that a small number of relevant, related links would decrease a site’s PR score.
Micah, March 19 2012, 17:15
As interesting as this is, I think people tend to put too much focus on PR. You can rank pages on Google without having to worry about PR. It really doesn’t affect your rankings. Just nofollow affiliate links with a free plugin like Pretty Link, and focus on delivering high-quality, relevant content. Do a little keyword research, a little SEO, and you are good to go.
Daniel Nathan, March 19 2012, 17:30
I still have some doubts about its effectiveness, but I guess I should give it a go to see if it will really improve my PR.
davidmwood, March 19 2012, 17:45
Yes, there are many exceptions to the rule. It’s just much easier for beginners to wrap their heads around the bucket with holes concept. Where your site is the Page Rank bucket and external links are the holes.
Olivia Green, March 19 2012, 18:00
Excellent article, David! Your explanation of Page Rank and the strategies to increase it are very clear and practical. I’ve been struggling to improve my site’s PR, and your tips on closing PR holes and building more links make perfect sense. I’ll definitely implement these strategies. Thanks for sharing your expertise!
Christopher Adams, March 19 2012, 18:15
Great post, David! I appreciate the detailed explanation of how Page Rank works and the practical advice on how to improve it. Your analogy of the PR juice bucket with holes is very helpful. I’ve been focusing on building high PR backlinks, but I’ll now also work on closing the PR holes. Thanks for the valuable insights!
Isabella Martinez, March 19 2012, 18:30
Thank you for the detailed post, David. I’ve been confused about how to effectively increase my site’s Page Rank, and your explanation has cleared up a lot of misconceptions I had. The tips on using nofollow tags and building a diverse range of backlinks are particularly useful. I’m looking forward to seeing the results of these strategies.
Alexander Thompson, March 19 2012, 18:45
Very informative post, David! While I agree with most of your points, I think it’s also important to remember that content quality and user engagement play a significant role in SEO. Even with perfect Page Rank strategies, a site won’t succeed without valuable content. It would be great to hear your thoughts on balancing PR strategies with content creation.
Lily Johnson, March 19 2012, 19:00
This post was very helpful, David. I’ve been working on improving my site’s Page Rank and your tips are exactly what I needed. The advice on limiting outbound links and using nofollow tags is something I hadn’t considered before. I’m excited to apply these strategies and see how they affect my site’s PR. Thank you!
Daniel Rivera, March 19 2012, 19:15
Thanks for the insightful post, David! The concept of PR juice and how to channel it effectively is something I hadn’t fully understood before. Your detailed explanation and practical tips will be very useful as I work to improve my site’s Page Rank. I’ll definitely be implementing your advice on closing PR holes and building a diverse range of backlinks.
Charlotte Taylor, March 19 2012, 19:30
I found your post very enlightening, David. The analogy of the PR juice bucket with holes is a great way to understand the concept of Page Rank. I’ve been focusing too much on building backlinks without considering the importance of retaining PR on my site. Your tips on using nofollow tags and limiting outbound links will definitely help me improve my site’s PR. Thank you for sharing your expertise!
Nathaniel Harris, March 19 2012, 19:45
Thank you for this detailed and practical post, David! I’ve been looking for ways to improve my site’s Page Rank and your advice is exactly what I needed. The tips on closing PR holes and building a diverse range of backlinks are very actionable. I’m looking forward to applying these strategies and seeing the results. Your expertise is much appreciated!
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The mechanism claim here is actually already disputed in this same comment section — Google changed how nofollow passes PageRank back in 2009, so link juice through a nofollow tag flows nowhere rather than being ‘saved’. The bucket-with-holes model doesn’t hold once you account for that change.
Worth separating rare from impossible here — there’s an admission further down in the comments that there are ‘many exceptions to the rule.’ The bucket metaphor works as a beginner mental model; it’s not remotely a mechanism, and that much seems to be known already.
Hector, this is helpful clarification, thank you. I am wondering also if this bucket idea was ever fully accurate outside of the large English-language search market, or if Google’s PageRank signal always behaved somewhat differently for smaller regional markets like the one I work in. Here in Turkey, most small business owners I know have never heard the term Page Rank at all, and the ones who do chase it are almost always copying a strategy written for a much bigger, much more competitive market than the one they are actually competing in. So when this post says the fastest way to increase Page Rank is to manipulate it on-page, I wonder how much of that fastest way was ever really about the metric, and how much of it was simply describing what already works for building a real audience wherever you happen to be selling to them. Perhaps the PR juice matters less than the underlying good practice it is trying to describe.
Tried the no-follow-everything approach on a site for a few months. Didn’t see any PR movement I could tie to it either way — matches what Raj is pointing at, the mechanism just isn’t doing what the post says it does.
Raj naming the exact year this changed is the kind of specific pushback this post needed. Good catch.
Does treating outbound links as a loss instead of a relationship change how you’d actually link out?
The ‘close the PR holes’ advice is basically a checklist — audit every external link, nofollow or cut it. That part I’d actually script rather than do by hand across a whole site. The bigger question Raj raises about whether it even matters is separate from whether it’s automatable.