I've noticed plenty of newbie questions to PR and linking in general so I'm going to throw this out to you experienced webmasters. In trying to determine PR, what is the best method. I've Googled it and found plenty of sources but I don't think they're legit. It seems Google would have something I could utilize.

Also, with regard to link maximums, I've read in this forum that 100 is the limit and I'm assuming this is per page. But does this include inbound and outbound links? I'm confused and don't want to short change my link partners. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

If you can stop laughing long enough to write a response, I'd appreciate it!

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Inbound links can only help
Make sure you concentrate on static links from SEO friendly pages.
Getting more links the better.

I don't think there's a 'best method'. A combination of good content, good links, well-structured pages and some time should lead to a decent PR. To start out with some good links, try submitting a press release for other websites to pick up. For a price, PrWeb has some nice features.

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hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I would argue that what you wrote is the best method.

PR DOES have value, a decent PR says that you are doing something right, in the Google world, and a low PR says you should try harder. I think the reason why many SEOs and webmasters do not recognize PR value is because at one time PR was either totally or almost totally dependent on linking. When linking stopped equating to high or higher PR these SEOs and webmasters concluded that PR wasn't worth much and they are correct in that PR is not worth much as a measurement of the value of linking.

If you do a search on "your city real estate" in MOST cases the sites that come up on the first page in Google will be PR will be PR4 or PR5. I know there are exceptions, but would anyone reasonably choose to be the exception?

Do you have a reference source for this?

That's a great point about the PR 4 & 5 sites and the first page of the serps. I would also say that, especially in larger markets, that allinanchor plays a large role. Using the keyword analysis tool on mcdar.net, I checked the G first page results for Atlanta Real Estate, Dallas Real Estate and Phoenix Real Estate and for each search term if you were in the top 7 in allinanchor for that search term, you were on the first page. The onlt exception to this was for Dallas Real Estate where the #3 for allinanchor didnt appear on the first page.

Edit: BTW, those were the first three search terms that I chose and didn't pick and choose search terms that fit my conclusion.

* Also checked Chicago, Miami and San Diego Real Estate and the same also applies. Seattle and Houston follow pretty closely.

That is a good find and observation. We should keep it in mind for page optimization.

I want to address two other points:

1) Anyone contemplating a link directory on their site should first read these two threads on webmasterworld and come to their own conclusions.

http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum30/30575.htm

http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/...ead.php?t=6642
The thread by DaveN is most interesting because he examines 250,000 urls.

2) Besides linking there are other ways to increase PR, at least to PR5. I started a thread on this http://realestatewebmasters.com/showthread.php?t=3549

The article I ask for feedback is a first draft that needs to be updated with information I already gathered from the feedback.

I forgot to add that the "toolbar" usually updates on a quarterly basis, and yes Google's internal PR updates constantly, otherwise SERPS would be stagnate until the point at which PR in the toolbar updates, which it doesn't. SERPS can vary day to day, datacenter to datacenter.
frobn, Do you believe that Google's internal ranking of pages stays the same until they update toolbar PR?

Your point helped me over a block I had. I was thinking of PR as somewhat one dimensional but it is multi-demensional. I don't believe that whether PR is calculated on the fly or less often would effect the SERPs very much. I could make a case for either condition. The SERPs are dependent on the interplay of PR and the key words searched on. I am now learning towards the theory that links can improve PR through the link anchor text and probably other factors having to do with where the link comes from and how it was obtained. The more congruence "or the stronger connection" between "what PR measures" and the key words the higher the SERP. This also would explain why a lower PR can have a higher SERP.

In terms of max links per page, Google recommends no more than 100 (I believe that applies to outbound links but I can't be certain). Different webmasters also have their own criteria. As long as you're under 100 you're ok. Pesonally I prefer not to exchange with sites that near 100, not because of PR reasons, but because many pages that I trade with that have say 70 or 80 BLs on them, soon turn out to have hundreds of BLs on them and I definately want nothing to do with that. I limit my pages to no more than 30 OBLs but that's my own thing and definately not all webmasters do that.

Regarding PR, it really isn't worth the time to try and figure it out or worry about it. It's apparently a complex formula that I don't think anyone has figurd out yet. Although I'm the first to say that I don't care about PR, I do get a little excited when G does a PR update Just create a useful, relevant site and work on your backlinking and the PR will come.

PR (that shows in a Page Rank toolbar) really doesn't mean much to anyone except webmasters. PR is on a constant flux and continuelly changes at the source (Google). The toolbar only updates every 3 or 4 months. What really matters is your position in the search engines placement (serps). A site with PR 1 can rank higher for terms on a site with very high PR by properly optimizing for the seach term.

The maximum amount that Google crawls on a site is 100 links, including inbound and outbound links.


No one would laugh. Everyone is here to learn.