OK, I've seen a TON of threads, mostly in the marketplace, that deal with ridiculous offers like "Link Exchange PR4 Site" or "PR 3 Domain for sale" for example. There's some things that need to be cleared up, PageRank does NOT apply to the following:

• Websites = Entire sites cannot have PR. A PR value is only given to a specific webpage, referred to by marketers most likely as the PR of the homepage.
• Domains = A domain is NOT a website nor a webpage of any sort, it is a unique memorable name that identifies IP addresses. Thus it is impossible for Google to assign any sort of PR value to it.
• Hyperlinks = Also NOT a page. When you see offers like "PR4 Link Exchange", this means that the link is coming from a page with that value. In no way does this reflect whether it is a "good deal" as it could be placed at the very bottom of the page, or it may be given very small text, thus becoming useless to the page visitor.

So be careful, in the marketplace and elsewhere, when sellers or buyers are claiming to have high PR goods for trade. But then again all this becomes moot once you learn PageRank doesn't mean anything.

lol good post james, unfortunatly the people who need to understand this wont listen to what you have posted !

Woc

Good post... And usearchme is right, most people won't really bother to do the right thing...

Useful information. Thank you.

Thank you, kind ones

I have thought that most probably *won't* consider these facts I presented, but if it can get through to at least a few of them, then I think it was worth it.

Plus, the thread can make an easy reference link for people that get the definition wrong.

Dammit, James, you can't write this. PageRank is the lifeblood of the Internet, along with webmasters and SEOs complaining every time Google blinks. THIS POST IS A BLOODY OUTRAGE, IT IS!!!! It really angries up the blood.

I have nothing to say other than what others have. It's a great post, but it's too well-written and logical for the people who need to read it to understand it.

@Adam - <I did have a joke planned here, but it was so bad I just decided to remove it>

Nice post and I fully understand what you mean!

But anyway, if anyone selling a pagerank 3+ domain name let me know, doesn't really matter about the pages, im gonna change 'em anyway
All I care about is the quality of the domains PR.

Oh and I could do with a few PR2+ hyperlinks that I could use to give out to friends on special occasions (you know birthdays and stuff).

Originally Posted by usearchme

lol good post james, unfortunatly the people who need to understand this wont listen to what you have posted !

Woc

I did not look at PR like how James explain it......But now i will lesson and try to take all the advice from James.
<removed >

Originally Posted by jamestl2

OK, I've seen a TON of threads, mostly in the marketplace, that deal with ridiculous offers like "Link Exchange PR4 Site" or "PR 3 Domain for sale" for example. There's some things that need to be cleared up, PageRank does NOT apply to the following:

• Websites = Entire sites cannot have PR. A PR value is only given to a specific webpage, referred to by marketers most likely as the PR of the homepage.
• Domains = A domain is NOT a website nor a webpage of any sort, it is a unique memorable name that identifies IP addresses. Thus it is impossible for Google to assign any sort of PR value to it.
• Hyperlinks = Also NOT a page. When you see offers like "PR4 Link Exchange", this means that the link is coming from a page with that value. In no way does this reflect whether it is a "good deal" as it could be placed at the very bottom of the page, or it may be given very small text, thus becoming useless to the page visitor.

So be careful, in the marketplace and elsewhere, when sellers or buyers are claiming to have high PR goods for trade. But then again all this becomes moot once you learn PageRank doesn't mean anything.

James you put a link on my tread to come over here to find out what is PR and how its counted.

I love your info on PR very much great Job.

Glad to help.

Originally Posted by jamestl2

PageRank does NOT apply to the following:

• Websites = Entire sites cannot have PR. A PR value is only given to a specific webpage, referred to by marketers most likely as the PR of the homepage.
• Domains = A domain is NOT a website nor a webpage of any sort, it is a unique memorable name that identifies IP addresses. Thus it is impossible for Google to assign any sort of PR value to it.
• Hyperlinks = Also NOT a page. When you see offers like "PR4 Link Exchange", this means that the link is coming from a page with that value. In no way does this reflect whether it is a "good deal" as it could be placed at the very bottom of the page, or it may be given very small text, thus becoming useless to the page visitor.

Is there a specific reason you wrote this? basically this post has no sence... or what you meant was that - "People do not buy or trade links"...

Google still considers a link as a part of its algorithm and as Matt Cutts said ones: "A link is a link - no matter where it comes from, we still count it (more or less)"

Oh, it makes sense. You just don't see the logic because you're PageRank protritanopic.

James merely posted this in response to all of the PageRank-obsessed people out there who believe that links are the magic bullet to #1 SEO ranking. To be fair, this did start at the "top" of the pyramid and worked its way down. There are over 200 factors that make up Google's algorithm and a "link" in and of itself is but one very small part.

http://www.brianwhite.org/2007/06/25/i-have-pagerank/

Directly from the mouth of a Googler. Read it, learn it, understand it, love it.

Originally Posted by Xanika

"A link is a link - no matter where it comes from, we still count it (more or less)"

Think about the more or less part. I'll argue that links that people actually click on are worth more than links that nobody clicks on. I can think of at least a dozen techniques that could be used to determine if links are actually clicked on.

This gets back to SEO that isn't SEO. If you have back links that people click on, then the search engine is less relevant. The fact that people click on the link means it is more relevant to a search.

Backlinks aren't everything. Useful links are, well, useful :-)

What Paul said, although it's not technically 100% true. There are high-traffic backlinks that come from sources (e.g. large corporate intranets) that can't be reached or aren't reached by bots. From an SEO standpoint, the link isn't any more relevant to a SERP simply because it isn't known.

That's a VERY, VERY minor point, though. The rest of what he said is dead-on and you should follow it as your mantra. Learn from the alcoholic.

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

Oh, it makes sense. You just don't see the logic because you're PageRank protritanopic.

James merely posted this in response to all of the PageRank-obsessed people out there who believe that links are the magic bullet to #1 SEO ranking. To be fair, this did start at the "top" of the pyramid and worked its way down. There are over 200 factors that make up Google's algorithm and a "link" in and of itself is but one very small part.

http://www.brianwhite.org/2007/06/25/i-have-pagerank/

Directly from the mouth of a Googler. Read it, learn it, understand it, love it.

Hold the phone... I didn't say that Im PageRank addicted freak... and "I pray for an extra green pixel in my toolbar" .

Most of SEO know that value of PR is devaluated these days.... and it means nothing but some Google's subjective assessment to the page...

Tell me who cares about it now? People who sell PageRank?
Well I dont want to buy it (and haven't done this before)...

As for

There are over 200 factors that make up Google's algorithm and a "link" in and of itself is but one very small part.

Looks like you are trying to mess online marketing strategies together with organic SEO which still works on those archaic links...

Most of SEO know that value of PR is devaluated these days.... and it means nothing but some Google's subjective assessment to the page

Not quite right on both counts

The vast majority of so-called SEOs still think toolbar PR matters.
The value of REAL is used by Google as a part of their algo. It's the increasingly inaccurate toolbar PR value that plays no part.

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

What Paul said, although it's not technically 100% true. There are high-traffic backlinks that come from sources (e.g. large corporate intranets) that can't be reached or aren't reached by bots. From an SEO standpoint, the link isn't any more relevant to a SERP simply because it isn't known.

That's a VERY, VERY minor point, though. The rest of what he said is dead-on and you should follow it as your mantra. Learn from the alcoholic.

One way to approach it. Imagine you are building your own search engine.
Your objective is to provide quality search results to keep people using you.
You also know that many people are trying to find way to manipulate your results.

So, how do you approach the problem of reducing manipulation while making results relevant?

Thanks for this great post; it really makes sense. Will try to test some of them myself.

Originally Posted by Xanika

As for
Looks like you are trying to mess online marketing strategies together with organic SEO which still works on those archaic links...

Ummmm...huh? I have no idea what you just said there.