Page Rank Explained In Layman Terms

Most people would like to get ranked on the first page of Google but have trouble learning what Search Engine Optimization is all about.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is actually a very simple concept if you can get past all those jargons and terminologies.

I’ll explain how page rank works in simple, layman terms.

Page Rank is a ranking system used by Google to rank sites (among other criteria) on their result page.

In other words, the higher your page rank, the better your chances of ranking on the first page of Google for a particular keyword.

(Bear in mind, there are many other factors when it comes to SEO, but I’ll just talk about page rank in this post!)

So how does Google’s ranking system work?

A website is given a page rank based on the number of incoming LINKS pointing to them.

The weight of each link is judged by the AUTHORITY of the site pointing to them (in other words their page rank).

Here is a simple illustration:

Websites are ranked just like movies.

Some people watch movies that are recommended by friends and family.

Others may only watch movies that are highly recommended by a movie critic.

Like websites, when someone gives good reviews about a movie, naturally the movie will be ‘ranked’ higher, correct?

Your websites are just like that. When another website ‘recommends’ you by linking to you, you get a vote.

The more votes you have, the higher your page rank (or the better the movie)

Now, Rotten Tomatoes, Yahoo! Movies and Metacritic are examples of well known and credible critics.

Most people would believe these credible sources compared to any Tom, Dick & Harry, don’t you think?

The higher the authority of the critic, the more credible their review is.

In other words the higher the page rank of the person pointing to your page, the better your rankings will be.

Google ranks pages on a scale of 0-10. Zero is where all sites begin. 5 or 6 is a very good page rank. 7 or beyond is for big players.

It is better to get ONE link from a Page Rank 6 or PR6 compared to 20 sites pointing to you with a PR of 1 or 2.

Here is another way to illustrate it.

When you watch American Idol, who is the most credible judge? Simon, Paula or Randy?

I think most people would say (unanimously) that it is Simon.

Why Simon? Because he TELLS THE BRUTAL TRUTH! He doesn’t sugarcoat the truth like Paula or spew nonsense like Randy. He just tells the truth and is brutally efficient at that.

So in layman terms, it should mean that regardless of what Paula or Randy says, If Simon says that the singer is good means the singer is good. If Simon says that the singer is bad means the singer is bad. (Simon carries more ‘weight’ compared to the other two and hence is more credible)

Makes sense?

That is what page rank is like. We should focus on getting links from a few GOOD credible sites compared to tons of sites that are not credible.

But don’t just go around getting credible links from irrelevant sites.

Google has a rule - you must link to relevant sites.

If your blog is talking about cars, it should make sense that you should link other car related news or blogs.

Example: Paul Tan Dot org talking about cars.

It wouldn’t make sense if you are talking about cars if your site is NOT related to cars! Google doesn’t like that and if Google finds out, you will wind up getting penalized when it comes to page rank or on the result page.

So it is not advisable to get links from sites that are NOT related to cars (in this example).

So make sure you play by the rules.

Here is another scenario. People ask me on this topic all the time…

You see, they usually post articles to article directories because it is a good way to get credible and related links.

They ask, “Can I use the SAME article to post into multiple directories and get the same effect?”

You are using duplicate content.

Google doesn’t like people using duplicate content and you might NOT get credit for your links if too much of the content is a duplicate.

Here’s another simple illustration.

If different movie critics review your movies, it will sound credible. But what happens if the SAME critic talks about the same move over and over again?

Wouldn’t this sound ‘weird’ if the same person raves about the same movie over and over again? The authority is diluted and the same applies with Google as well.

The best way to overcome this problem is to use unique content.

Ranking on the first page for the search engine is not difficult. To simplify things, getting lots of link love from other credible sites for a particular keyword (anchor text) is the fastest way to climb the ranks.

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