When Google’s spiders visit your site they not only do some quick math on your keywords, – but they also assign each page a “PageRank value” of 0 to 10.
Normally, the page with the higher PageRank gets listed ahead of those pages with a lesser PageRank.
So your goal is to get a higher PageRank than those who currently occupy the top positions at Google for any Primary keyword you are considering.
And the main way you get PageRank is with “Backward Links”.
NOTE: Although the term ‘Backward Links’ is a Google term, – other search engines have similar ranking criteria.
So by optimizing for PageRank at Google, you
simultaneously boost your link-popularity across the board.
What Google seems to be saying is, …pages that have links back to them (backward links) MUST BE IMPORTANT…
…so let’s make note of that and score it accordingly, – so that our visitors can find the important pages more easily than the others.
And because you can easily do a Backward Links check at Google, – for any keyword you are considering optimizing a page for, – then you can know in advance…
…how many Backward Links will be needed to outscore any site which currently hold top positions, – for that keyword, – at Google.
For instance, when I did a Backward Links check for
‘barbecues’, – a Primary keyword I’m considering optimizing one of my product pages for, – I discovered that sites occupying the top 5 positions for that keyword all had a PageRank of between 5 and 7, (high) – with Backward Link totals ranging anywhere from 173 to 2510.
Meaning, – forget about it!
I’ll find another keyword.
And although it may be less searched than ‘barbecues’, I will at least have a shot at high rankings.
But, normally if you stay very product focused, – YOU won’t have this kind of competition.
Later you will be shown how to specifically organize all of your internal links for MAXIMUM PageRank.
My strategy for doing this is the most-up-to-date insider knowledge available, – so powerful in fact that I
considered writing an entire manual on the subject.
So please pay special attention to the Google PageRank procedures that follow, – as well as Step-8, Building Traffic from Multiple Sources.
There is a right way to do it.
And there is a wrong way to do it.
So, I hope I’ve convinced you that by doing Backward Link checks at Google for all of your keywords prior to building pages around them; – you will gain one heck of a
competitive advantage over Webmasters with no knowledge of how PageRank works.
I will now walk you through the process of downloading Google’s’ control menu onto your browser, – so it’s right in front of you whenever you need to do the all important Backward Links check.
Time to get your Google eyes.
Go to Google at http://toolbar.google.com/ and follow the steps needed to install the Google toolbar.
With your Google Toolbar installed into your browser, you can now quickly and easily do the following strategic maneuvers:
1. Search the web for any keyword you’re considering.
2. Make note of the PageRank for each of the top sites found.
3. Do a Backward Links check for each of the top sites found.
Example
So, as you know, I’ve already checked the PageRank and Backward Link totals for ‘barbecues’ and decided to take-a-pass.
But, let’s say I check on ‘barbeque grills’.
The sites that appear in the following screenshot are the result of that search.
These websites occupy the top positions, – not only because they are properly optimized for the keyword,
‘barbeque grills’, – but also because of their respective
‘PageRank’ and ‘Backward Link’ totals.
As Google says, PageRank is Google’s measure of the importance of this page.
So, before I attempt to compete for these positions, – I would be wise to determine their PageRank AND total number of Backward Links, – in order to see what MY PageRank at Google would need to be in order to match (or exceed) theirs.
And, as mentioned earlier, – by scoring a high PageRank at Google, – I also establish similarly high link-popularity scores at other major search engines.
Above are the results of a keyword search for ‘barbeque grills’.
So, while ignoring the paid sponsored link at the VERY top of the list (highlighted in blue), – as you always do when assessing top-10 search engine rankings, – I open the top
guy in the free listings area,
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/sports_and_leisure /gas-grill-reviews/ (see screenshot that follows).
Being in the #1 spot, they have the position I would like to get, – if at all possible, – although any listing on a top-10 page is great.
But let’s say I wanted THAT spot.
With their page open in my browser, I simply hold my cursor over the PageRank bar, – to determine its PageRank.
As you can see in the screenshot above, – this page has a PageRank of 6, – which is good.
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/sports_and _leisure/gas-grill-reviews/
Then I click on the Page Info button, – next to the PageRank bar, – which opens a drop-down menu from which I can choose to do a Backward Links check (shown below).
Note: If you already have the Google Toolbar installed on your computer, but do not see the Page Info icon (shown above), you can turn it on by clicking on “Options” in the drop-down menu (shown below), and the locating the
“More” tab and then checking the box next to the ‘Page Info’ icon.
At this point our only interest is the number of Backward Links to this page.
I click on the Backward Links button, which opens the screenshot that follows (several paragraphs below).
As you can see below, – in the blue bar that shows the results search, – similar to a keyword result search, – there are 7 Backward Links to the ‘barbeque grills’ page above.
This essentially means that this page beat out EVERY OTHER page for the top position at Google when a surfer typed the word ‘barbeque grills’ into their search engine.
I’ll cover this in more detail in Step 8, however at this point it’s important to know that anyone competing for this top spot at Google would have to consider, – getting the same number of backward links or backward links from pages with higher PageRank.
Now, the origin of these Backward Links is of little interest to you, although they can be checked.
What you ARE interested in is the total.
Because normally that total is the number Backward Links YOU will need to leapfrog ahead of any position you seek.
In the above case, I would probably need 8 Backward Links, to beat out this spot.
That’s assuming that my Backward Links were of the same quality (more on that later) and my page
optimization and their page optimization were equal.
The good news is that Google also counts Backward Links from other pages on your own site, granted at a lesser rate than a Backward Link that originates from another site, but they still count.
So if, let’s say I was a prolific writer and had 100 ‘Article’
pages on my BBQ site, I could link 5-6 of them to my
‘barbeque grills’ product page.
And if, I could entice 5-6 other webmasters to each point a link to my ‘barbecue grills’ product page from a quality page on their site, – I could probably become the new occupant of that top spot at Google for the keyword
‘barbeque grills’.
But a further look reveals even better news.
Because when doing Backward Link checks on the #2 and
#3 spots, – I found Backward Link totals of 4 and 6 respectively, – which is easy to compete with.
So I may elect to try and pick off the #2 and #3 spot, – instead of the #1 spot, – because fewer Article pages would need to be dedicated to the task, I.e. – 21 and 6 respectively (all other things being equal).
And remember, the full significance of this may not become apparent to you until you’ve completed this manual, – or at least completed this chapter.
So if it seems a little overwhelming, just be patient.
Thankfully, the Keyword, Merchant and PageRank Chart you have been provided with will greatly assist you to properly weigh your options.
But before we go to that chart and begin working with your keyword list I’ll give you three more definitions:
1. PageRank – The Google search engine’s measure of the importance of any given page in its database.
2. Backward Links – An incoming link to a page that originates from another page on the Internet.
3. Outgoing Link – The page from which a Backward Link originates.
As you will see later, – it’s important to keep in mind, the difference between an “incoming” and “outgoing” link, – because by having “an over abundance” of outgoing links from one of your own pages, – you may inadvertently dilute your PageRank.
Backward link anomaly explained
Often I’d see top spots being occupied by pages with fewer backward links than others further down in the rankings.
This was because Google assesses the sending pages PageRank as well. The higher the sending pages
PageRank – the more weight it carried in pushing up your page.
So once I could see how many backward links a competing page had – I’d make note of it.
Then – within reason – I’d try to get a slightly higher number of backward links for my page (if they had five I’d try to arrange ten).
Keeping in mind that inbound links coming from pages with a higher PageRank themselves carried more weight at Google – I also had a rule of thumb that said I’d only
arrange links from pages with a PageRank of 3 or above.
NOTE: The entire subject of “arranging” inbound links is covered in my Google Mastery report, and in Step #8, which is provided FREE to all book buyers. I strongly recommend that you take some time to carefully review every aspect of this report, once you get to Step #8. For now, and for simplicity’s sake, you need to understand that the fact that you solicit links from other webmasters or offer your own professionally written content (PAD or Professional Article Distribution) embedded with links back to any pages you want high rankings for. And arranging these links is as important as ever.
Visit the Updates page (see page 2 of the manual) for a video tutorial of the process I follow for doing a Google backward link check.
Baby step #4:
Narrow down your keyword list
Earlier in this manual you developed a keyword list at Wordtracker that may, or may not serve your purposes well enough to act as a narrowly targeted keyword list for the industry you have decided to pursue.
The reason I say that is, – while working with students previously, – I witnessed that in nearly every case their initial keyword lists were too general in nature.
This is understandable.
When first venturing into Wordtracker most have only a vague idea of the role of these keywords or the industry they plan to pursue.
So take a good look at your list again.
Can you see 5-6 keywords in the top 20-30 words that could serve well as Primary keywords?
Do these words bear a close relation to your merchant categories?
For instance, if you were planning a site about Poker Chips, – can you see keywords bearing a close relation to any of the merchant categories below, – which I
researched at Google (I.e. poker chip affiliate programs)?
1. Poker Chips
2. Poker Chip Sets 3. Clay Poker Chips 4. Custom Poker Chips 5. Poker Chip Cases
Can you see how the above Poker Chip merchant categories would serve you well if those exact phrases showed up near the top of your keyword list?
Each could then be the Primary keyword for a product page about that subject, – as well as the perfect choice for a navigation bar button.
So play with these ideas a bit, then…