Toolbar PageRank – A Key Link Building Tool?

Google’s Toolbar PageRank (PR) has a mixed reputation amongst SEOs. Some say that it is deliberately misleading, as it has no relation the PageRank algorithm that determines listings. Others however, find a use for it. Here at the FirstFound Blog, we’ve found that it can be useful in identifying sites to request links from.

PageRank – The Theory

As numerous search engine bloggers, SEO experts and people with common sense have discovered, links in to your site from high PR sites carry more weight with the search engines than links from low PR sites.

Although toolbar PR isn’t always an accurate reflection of a site’s real PR, it does have it’s uses as a rough indicator. That means that you can use it to priioritise a list of likely links, to make better use of time spent on building links.

Using Toolbar PR as a Link Building Tool

Step 1: Identifying Sites

When identifying sites to get links from, bear the following in mind: You want relevant sites. Industry blogs, niche directories, suppliers – these are the sorts of sites that will carry weight with Google. If you’re a garage in Farnborough, a link from a restaurant on the Isle of Skye isn’t going to score highly on relevancy. Keep links local, or in your niche. You also need more links from unique domains, rather than dozens of links from the same domain – being featured in a site’s sidebar links is always subject to diminishing returns!

Step 2: Prioritising Sites

Use the toolbar Page Rank tool, rank your sites in order of PR, from highest to lowest. Then, start to target the highest ranking sites first. Don’t disregard anything with a low Page Rank though, as sometimes it isn’t 100% accurate. As a rule of thumb though, you should be focussing your efforts on any sites with a PR of 3 (the average) or higher.

Step 3: Requesting Links

Now it’s just a matter of getting the sites you’ve identified to link back to you. Google frowns upon paying for links, but you can offer a reciprocal link, or ask if you can write a guest post for a blog. Just remember that when you’re requesting a link, a personalised and friendly email goes down much better than anything starting “dear sir/madam”.

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