When attempting to improve PageRank, one thing rings true: the better the PR a site linking to you has, the better it can affect your score. There are a number of ways to go about gathering links, including paying for them.

The question I’ve come across on the WebProWorld forums comes from a poster named maxseo who’s wondering if they should pay $1000 for an inbound link from a site with a PageRank of 9? Would you get your monetary value by doing so? Some of the responses help clear the air:

I’d have to imagine if they have a PR9 on their site that they have a decent site with a steady flow of traffic. If that’s the case, then yes $1000 is really cheap. Especially if the site is related to yours and if your link will be displayed in a visible location all month and not just PPC.

So if the site is related to yours and you will get a visible text link all month and the site receives a steady amount of traffic, sounds like a good deal. However, if your just linking because of their PR and thinking that it will raise your SERP then it probably won’t do you much good.

This thinking is reinforced by another poster who offers:

I agree with Phantom. I don’t think a link on a PR9 site is worth $1000 per month unless it’s also giving me a lot of relevant traffic.

Another poster issues a word of warning:

You just told the world that this will be a purchased link. Not a good idea. I am confident that Google discounts paid links, or will in the future. Having said that, $1,000 is a very low price.

Make sure he doesn’t have a PR9 because he participated in some black hat stuff. For example, I recently picked up a client with 4 IBL from PR3 sites and he has a PR6. Alarm bells are going off in my head; I want to know where this PR6 came from before I link to this client.

In other words (from most responses), don’t buy the links unless you will get some sort of traffic benefit to boot. It’s also important to remember that Google frowns on the purchasing of links that benefit PageRank (or buying links at all). They’ve consistently suggested contextual IBLs to go along with contextual content. If I had my druthers, I would much rather perform a viral-based link campaign than hoping the PR of another site will transfer to mine at the cost of $1000.

Of course, the argument whether PR is even that important is also discussed, while summing up the approach you should probably take when considering a link purchase:

PR doesnt mean anything to rankings. It hasnt for a long time now. If someone wants to buy a link for PR, fine by me, let them waste their money. It probably wont pass anyways unless it is relevant or a certain age.

Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest search news.