PR & Top listings - why one and not the other?

[LoveNotWar]

Hi, my site which is quite specific has a higher Page Ranking than most others which come up high when doing a google search on terms relevant to my site.

Any ideas why? It appears to me having a high Page Rank does not neccessarily return you high on listings for terms relevant to your site. Am I missing somthing?

[janeth]

Hi LoveNotWar,
There are over a 100 things Google looks at. PR is just one of them. It is moer important to have good content then a high PR.
I would try to add another 100 words of text or more to your site to make sure Google knows what your site is about. But you need to write for your customers and not Google.

[rlrouse]

PageRank is only one factor (and a minor factor at that) in determining the ranking of pages in the SERPS.

The SERPS are full of pages with lower PRs ranking higher than pages with higher PRs because of other factors:

- Link anchor text with the keyword/phrase in it.
- Density of the keyword/phrase on the page
- Keyword/phrase used in header tags and page title

among others...

In short, PR has relatively little impact on the SERPS for specific search terms. Linking strategies and on-page factors play a much larger role.

[LoveNotWar]

Thanks, Janeth and rlrouse.

So what exactly is the point of PR then, and why do we all get so hyped up about it? What will a good PR acheive for one?

[rlrouse]

So what exactly is the point of PR then, and why do we all get so hyped up about it? What will a good PR acheive for one?

PR is important, though not so much for ranking well in the SERPS.

While a better optimized page will outrank a poorly optimized page with a higher PR, if the two pages are pretty much equal in all other respects the higher PR page will win out.

A higher PR gives your site a higher "status". The higher the PR, the easier it is to get incoming links to your site, which with good link anchor text will help increase your ranking in the SERPS (and your PR).

A higher PR will make it easier to sell advertising. The average webmaster equates a high PR with high traffic although this isn't always the case.

[jackson992]

To add to that I believe that Google is rumord to visit more often when you have high PR

[rlrouse]

To add to that I believe that Google is rumord to visit more often when you have high PR

Yes, that does indeed seem to be the case. Googebot seems to visit most PR5+ sites on a daily basis while visiting PR4- sites less often. At least this has been my experience.