WHAT?

PageRank (PR or for some: Page Rank) is an algorithm analyzing number and quality of links pointing to websites from other websites. The result of analysis is a value from lowest 0/10 to highest 10/10. Actually it’s named after Mr Page who invented it.

The abbreviation shows up as PR0, PR1, PR2, and so on up to PR10.

You can download a Google toolbar that shows you a green bar for the PR.

In short: Google ranks your site based on a number AND quality of inbound links.

WHY?

The higher the number of high PR sites linking to your site the more valuable your site appears in the eyes of Google.

One backlink from PR2 site roughly equals a 30 links from PR1 sites, and so on.

These days many people agree that having high PR does not necessarily translate to high traffic to your site.

Although it’s still important to have a links from high PR sites, do not be overly concerned with your site’s own PR value unless you want monetize your site by selling links.

Be warned however that outgoing links to bad sites may cause your PR to fall down, so be careful who you link to.

HOW?

Pages on websites are ranked individually not together as a whole domain. Every page is treated separately. Even if your homepage gets high PageRank your other pages may not be ranked at all!

That’s why internal linking between pages under your domain is very important.

Few tips:

• Build internal links connecting to your other relevant and complementing pages, this also helps index your pages by Google faster and better.
• Get as many as you can high PR inbound links. The simplest way is use trusted article directories or post links on established Web 2.0 sites.
• Use social bookmarking and RSS feeds to create links in quantity.

Warning!

Some people buy links from high PageRank sites, you can even get them through eBay, so before you throw the money away:

• be absolutely sure the specific page with your backlink actually has got the PR advertised,
• make sure the content of that site is relevant to your sites content,
• make sure the backlink is ‘do follow’ and will stay like this.