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Forget About Page Rank and Build a Better Blog

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I get a lot of questions about Google’s Page rank and when it will update again.

I’m not sure if people think I look like Matt Cutts or whether they think I’ve got some inside word – but the question hits my inbox quite a lot.

So what’s my response these days?

Forget about when and if Page Rank will update and spend your time building a better blog!

You see – Google are in the business of helping their users find great, authoritative and credible content on any given topic and I’m increasingly becoming convinced that the more you spend time building sites that have that content the more highly you’ll be ranked in Google.

Sure, you need to know some good basic Search Engine Optimization principles because it will help your blog reach it’s potential – but don’t be obsessed with it.

About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Comments
  1. Great video again, Darren. I see forum with threads about the upcoming PR update with some >1500 posts and 6-figure views on it.

    I´d think, the time people spend reading and writing these forums posts, would far better be invested in more and better content.

  2. Man, I just want to say that I love your new videos, Darren.

    What can I say? Great advice as usual.

    I’ll take it all to heart.

    I liked the section where you describe a quality blog. At the moment I’m trying to be all informative, entertaining, and fun on my blog.

    I haven’t seen any kind of growth in community, but I have started a list with AWEBER and I like it. It’s kind of like automated blogging.

    I don’t plan on affiliate marketing hard core, but I just want to provide “insider content” and grow popularity. I’m also not just as good as my last post with the auto-responder.

    I’m hoping it’ll bring readers back to my blog on a daily basis.

    I’m just taring up a rant now. You don’t have to read if you don’t want to.

    I like the idea of using an auto-responder more than using a feed, although I’m using both to try and grow a sense of community.

    For one, I work a 40-hour a week day job. I’m not always going to have something to post every single day.

    With the auto-responder, it’s all automated, so I know quality content is going out on a daily basis or every other day basis linking readers back to my site.

    Anyway, I just thought I might share my thoughts on how I’m trying to grow a sense of community.

    Oh yeah, and I’m trying to be more out-spoken and opinionated, not just purely informational. Hopefully some people will at least hate me and read anyways. Haha.

    Wow. Sorry for the blog post on your blog.

    See ya.

  3. You’re so right Darren. I keep seeing all over the net with bloggers wondering if their PR is going up or down. Forums are abuzz with it, frankly its just all nonsense to me.

    I think the only reason why most of them are obsessed is because of the ability to sell their blog easier to advertisers. If we stop caring about PR, sooner or later the effect will trickle down. Then the only reason you will get higher in the search engines or gain more advertising revenue, if that’s what you’re after, is by the content you put out.

  4. This comes back to your repeated suggestion, that “the majority of your time should be spent on creating quality content for your blog”. It makes sense that unless you have that quality content, then you won’t rank that well in the search engines. Thanks for the reminder Darren and for keeping us on track!

  5. I suspect PageRank is a very small part of the overall algorithm anyway. Have a feeling many of the pro SEOs out there would probably agree.

  6. I just had to read the title to agree with you – page rank is not important, what is important is the content you have and the keywords and title tags you use. A fact is that some sites with low PRs (PR 1-2) do more better in the results, than the higher PR sites. Keyword usage and density both influence ranking and Google will look for these two factors and in most cases, the page with a lower pagerank (1-2) come what may still be given a better ranking.

  7. You hit the nail on the head Darren!

    I think there are definitely people out there who are getting so wrapped up in SEO and Page Rank they neglect the real issue. Which like you said is building a quality blog.

    Oh yes and according to this source Page Rank is being updated.

  8. Good call Darren. If Google killed off PageRank, it would be one less useless statistic to bother tracking. The obsession with PR, AdSense and easy traffic generation (i.e. Social Media) are killing quality on a lot of blogs.

  9. It’s pretty obvious advice but I suppose it needs to be said now and again. There are too many people looking for quick fixes and ignoring the simple thing that makes sites popular: useful content.

  10. Well said Darren. So many people post lots and lots of small posts linking to others websites, instead of dreaming up their own new interesting content with their own slant on the topic.

    While if they focused their time on the content and really write it well google gives you much much higher search showings. My blog is now about 2 months old and I’m already recieving some good traffic from google. With lots of those being number one in the search already.

    Content, content, content.

    all the best

  11. Hurrah…! Well said. It is people who read blogs, not algorithms that calculate spurious figures like “page rank”. Focus your blog on your readers and it will succeed. Get side-tracked into worrying about page rank and SEO and you’ll lose focus. Then you’ll lose readers. Thinking “readers first” is the key to successful blogging.

  12. I have a SEO zealot that has been trying to get me on the page rank horse for a couple of weeks now. I think I might just send this article to him :) Thanks for writing a defense for me!

  13. Page Rank only works and affect for Google. It won’t affect the SERP on Yahoo, MSN, etc.

  14. Hi Darren

    Great video.

    Everyone seems to be obsessing about it as you have said, one thing I picked up early on from reading your blog was how important content is, and I have stuck to this.

    Now I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about what page rank I will get (as this is my first one) but i do check the predicted one from time to time, using the predictor over at iwebtool.

    According to the tool it is showing a predicted page rank of 6 for my site (i don’t know how accurate this tool is), if i get a page rank of 6 i will be amazed, I guess I will just have to wait and see.

  15. Just a heads up that your video does not play in Google Reader.

  16. You are right but PR is also important isnt? As PR=Traffic

  17. i was just getting on my computer to do alittle brainstorming and look what destracted me…your post about writing a great blog. Thanks for the reminder and tips but stop destracting me with your fantastic info. I gotta get to work.

  18. Mahesh Mohan, PageRank is one part of Google’s algorithm. One single part, and there are probably hundreds of other more important factors.

    Plus, as someone said above, there’s also Yahoo and MSN, and even ask.com – all of which have no clue what PageRank is.

  19. Hi Darren,

    Just watched you video clip…all I can say is sooo true! As a matter of fact that’s why I switched my hosting company to the one I am currently with, they do all the SEO, Page Ranking, submission for me, and all I have to do is focus on quality content! I’ve been telling everyone about this company! The feed back I’ve been getting back Darren is great! I can really say this is the best yet kept secret that is slowly being discovered by bloggers! When every you get a chance Darren check it out!

    There’s ton’s of ways to make money blogging…but if you have not tools, or the rights tools, you’re just spinning your wheels…here let me help by giving you this great website’s link, I’ve used all types of so called software, and nothing compares to this, check it yourself and you be the judge!

    http://www.blogi360.com

  20. Yes, it can be forever to get into google rankings. You have to have tons of links and info. If you do not sell anything on your website and your not with Adwords, its hard to get good ranking.

    You can put your website or blogs in other popular blog sites to get a fairly good ranking if those sites have good rank on google, where others can look you up. This is the best way to get noticed in my opinion. Blogcatalog is good too. You can also go into google and look up websites that will let you add your URL for free. Put it in as many blogs as you can. You need to give it a couple years before it starts paying off. Don’t be in a rush. My website/blogs are all about how to tell the difference between real authentic designer bags compared to fake ones. Its an informative website and/or blog that can save buyers lots of money from getting ripped off unaware when they go to buy Fendi, Gucci, Prada, Juicy, Coach, and other bag/bags. Its all about how to spot an authentic designer bag. Just get your blog out there in google land as much as you can. The website SQUIDOO is a great way to get noticed. Im at http://www.freewebs.com/fakefendihandbags

    Just get your website out as much as you can. It will pay off eventually.

  21. Very good video! I agree 100%, what’s the point on concentrating on only SEO when content is key. Setting up a foundation to work with is much more important to start of with then concentrating on pagerank which of course is still an important factor.

    Thanks for the video!

    Dan
    http://www.DanielAziz.com

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  23. excellent video Darren, it’s good practice to keep your eye on the prize, but even a good page rank doesn’t mean there is good content on the site. working on making your content reader friendly will maintain an install base of readers after the page rank catches on

  24. We shouldnt be too concern with PR. Not many bloggers know that PR can be reduced. I went from nothing to PR3 and then crash back to nothing.

  25. True enough I just hope people quit checking their stats every few seconds and focus on content + seo more

  26. Amen, Darren,

    Like the movie, “Field Of Dreams”, says, “Build it, and they will come”.

    Content is still king! I don’t see that changing.

    I agree with some of the other comments, spend your time on your content…not on stats and rankings. Getting stressed about stats and rankings, can stifle your creativity.

  27. Well said! Like they say “content is king”.

  28. I agree with you…
    Forget about Page Rank…
    Just do your blog differently and interesting..

  29. Great post, Darren. I really wouldn’t be shocked myself if Google were purposely holding back a PageRank update or coming up with some new system. They’ve already made it very clear that they don’t like their search engine being gamed, and that seems to be what is happening.

    Shawn
    http://www.beerpizzatech.com

  30. Hey Darren,

    I was obsessed with trying to get my pagerank higher. After months trying, I just concentrate on putting great content in blog.

    Thanks for reassuring all of us.

    Cheers,
    Carlo Selorio

  31. The trouble is, the blog playing field is now not level, due to the delays in PR being updated.

    I wouldn’t be surprised if some enterprising Aussie blogger files a complaint with the ACCC re Google not updating the page rank. Either you give it to everyone – and therefore allow everyone to be competitive, or you give it to no one.

    Is Google breaking Australian law? I’m not a lawyer, I don’t know, but I do know they are costing a lot of bloggers money and the resentment people feel towards them is quite justified, in my opinion.

    There’s no reason to mess people around like this. Why can’t they let people know what is going on? Why all the secrecy? Why do they have to let everyone speculate and guess? The uncertainty only makes people more angry.

    Snoskred

  32. I totally agree. PageRank means nothing if your content is nothing but crap. Good sites naturally gain high PageRanks, and those who blab about nothing more than SEO normally stay low.

  33. You need to fix the buffering in your player. Tweak it so it loads 10 seconds data first, then plays then loads, then plays and so forth. This will help people with slower connection in not getting choppy audio and video. It shouldn’t be too hard to fix.

  34. Great post, as usual.

    I have to say that I have obsessed over Google and Google Page Rank, in the past. I wasted far too much brain power on something that didn’t really matter because I was already giving my best shot at great content, which is of course what matters, but…

    … I still find myself drifting back into that way of thinking so it is good to get a kick in the pants to remind me to keep my brain power heading in the right direction.

    Thanks again and keep them coming.

  35. A lot of people think that the pr is the holy cow in this buisness. absolutely wrong! great article! i think to write good articles (like this one) is much better as one good backlink.

    regards,
    SEOcity.wordpress.com

  36. Your video’s advice is spot on!

    Build it well and they will come. And keep coming.

    Just look at problogger, with it’s 32,000 subscribers.

  37. Darren,

    This post hit home with me. I have gotten the same questions…and love your answer.

    Pay attention to your business, but don’t obsess with the technical stuff.

    Nicely done.

    Joseph Ratliff

  38. I would normally not be worried about page rank, but I noticed that the amount of traffic Google sends my site dropped significantly at the beginning of September. I’m not sure if this is natural (my niche is fitness and health and maybe people are less concerned about that at the end of summer) but I sure would like to know if it’s something I did wrong.

    Gal

  39. Darren! Thanks by reminding us! It has became obvious, isn`t it? But being a freelancer is so diverse that we often forget obvious things. Because we fall too deep into things that do not really matter.

    A funny clip, anyway – good point we should all put it in action. Google is very serious about its vision, so optimizers will soon close their stores…

    D.

  40. It’s so true. You can’t really second guess big G. Just build a quality blog. Google looks for quality websites. So make it happen and think logically. Pagerank is irrelevant – I have a PR0 site that is ranked 3rd on G for a massive keyword, and its bringing in great ad revenue.

  41. Amen Darren. Exactly what is most important. Everyone is obsessed with figuring out how to boost their pageRank and in the end, it comes down to quality of their content. Great video post that will remain timeless in it’s worth.

  42. Great Video,But you must need atleast a PR-2 so that people will subscribe you….But ultimately i go for good content,Since content matters a lot

  43. Although O don’t place a lot of emphasis on Pagerank it is an indicator of how my SEO is going on my site. Or is it? Yahoo, MAN and Google all have their own secret sauce.

    Jason

  44. You’re right. I don’t even know what my page rank is! And quite frankly I dont care at this point. My blog has only been around for a couple of months; I can’t expect to be a PR10 right away! My goal is to quit my day job, not get a high page rank…I will document if the 2 really go hand in hand.

  45. The amount of time webmasters are spending worried about when the next PageRank will update, they all could be producing some quality content for their blogs.

    Great video once again Darren! I have really started to enjoy these weekly small video segments. Keep’em going!

  46. Great video post as usual, Darren. Thank you.

  47. Absolutely agree with the idea. But i was thinking that this must be happen for every new blogger like me and sometimes this is good to keep you motivated on blogging especially when you managed to get your page rank improved day to day. But once again, when the time comes for you to upgrade your level to be a pro blogger at that time you must change the way you blogging and for sure page rank is not a big issue anymore..

  48. Yep, exactly my thoughts Darren. So many people are wasting their time going over every little tag and obsessing over every linkback and stats.. waiting for Google to make a move.

    I’m just building blogs one day at a time. I have over 15 of them but mostly concentrating on one. For m, it’s all about content. What a blogger can bring to his readers. Period.

    Thanks again for you great blog!

    Insane Seb

  49. you are absolutly right. a good blog is the best thing to have good traffic, but it`s easy to talk about pr is not so important when you got a pr 6. i just have a new blog and realy can`t wait to the next google pr run because that`s gona be my first one.

  50. Hi Darren, I’m new to reading/listening to your posts and I would just like to say that I love it all. Great advice, thanks very much. I would also have to agree about the current obsession about SEO and pagerank. Not as in everyone else is obsessed but I myself as a blogger have become obsessed with the whole nature of a high pagerank., I dont think that Google are going to change the type of ranking system they use today. What I do think is that they are going to change the way in which pages are ranked through the current page rank system. I have had over 80 links in Google for my site http://www,davesblogidge.com and then one day it just went down to 70 links. Thats a change of 10 links which can be the difference between finding 100 visitors a day and 70 visitors a day. Get the system updated A.S.A.P Google!!

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