Steps I Did To Increase My PageRank

by - Friday, March 27, 2009

We often talk about Google PageRank [PR] and how it puzzles our brains. There are some blogs or websites who have been established for years and yet their PRs are low while there are some which are just some months old in the market and have already strong PR values.I am not a PR expert myself. I am a pharmacist and not a computer /SEO genius. However, since I have this little passion of learning about what's going on in my blog's blogosphere existence, I always try to make it a point to visit some forums and blogs which tackle about the so much talked about Google PageRank.

I have gone through so many PR forums and discussions, have discovered some possible ways on how to strengthen my PR and have applied some on my blog.

Here are the basic rules which I learned to uplift my blog's PR:
  • Submit your site to Google, verify the ownership of your blog and ADD A SITEMAP

    You want to get a Google PR? Add your site first! Most bloggers do the first two steps but no longer bother to do the last one. Adding a sitemap is very important as sitemaps are a way for Google to get information about your site. It also makes it easier for web crawlers to crawl yor site. After doing these three steps, Google is ready to index your site as well as to check for possible errors.

    *** if you have a .blogspot.com blog, you do NOT need to submit your blog to Google and create a sitemap as Blogspot will do this automatically for you.

  • Get your site indexed by other big search engines such as Yahoo and MSN

    I suggest you add your blogs manually to make sure that your site will not be submitted twice. There are some who offer to help you submit your site in many search engines at once. You can also do this but make sure that they will NOT BE SUBMITTING YOUR SITE TWICE in the same search engine as it might be considered spamming. Some major search engines will block you from their lists if you are caught spamming.

  • Take some time to list your blog in different directories and social networking sites

    DMOZ list and Ask.com are considered to be one of the major ones so be sure that your blog's on their list. Networking sites such as Technorati, Digg, RedIt, Twitter and more can also help you increase your blog's exposure.
  • Create a blogroll - Exchange links with other blogs

    Google describes PR as "PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important"."

    This explains how the famous saying, "No man is an island" can be applied to blogging. The more blogs connected to your blog, the bigger your network, the better your PR. This is where link exchange comes into picture.

    One catch - the higher the PR of those other blogs your blog is linked to, the stronger your PR. This is why some bloggers who have really high blog PageRanks no longer bother to exhange links with those with very low ones especially with blogs having zero PRs. There are even some blogs where you need to pay for a certain amount just to have your blog linked to it.

    Perhaps you now understand why advertisers pay a certain amount to bloggers just to write about their products/websites. You can find advetisers which choose a blog with a certain PR level to be accepted to do the job. It's their right. Advertisers want to increase their PR as quick as possible that's why they want higher PRed blogs to link to. Which makes sense why the higher the PR of a blog is, the more jobs/opportunities it can receive from advertisers. Catch is, by paying you, the blogger, you don't get to be linked back to their sites as they will not [of course] write about you on their website. Simple - you link them, they don't link you back [you get paid instead].

    I've read in some forums saying that if your blog contains so many paid reviews, your PR will go down in rank. This is just a hunch. It might be true and it might be not. Even computer/network/SEO geniuses claim that this is just a "maybe" as no one can actually crack perfectly the Google PageRank algorithm.

    Two examples of a link exchange: On this blog's sidebar, you will find a BLOGROLL box and a BADGE EXCHANGE badge. These two are perfect examples of a link exchange. Those blogs who are in this blog's blogroll and badge exchange columns are linked here in my blog while my blog is also linked with theirs.

  • Tagging which has been discussed earlier on this blog can also help in widening your network of links. You can read about it here: The Importance Of Tagging

  • Join forums where you can freely discuss the contents of your blogs

    Forums are places on the internet where you can meet so many people from all over the web. Start an interesting discussion regarding a post in your blog together with the link so readers can easily visit your blog and read about your post. If they get to like your blog, they might subscribe to it or even link your blog to theirs.

  • Last but not the least, don't forget to LINK GOOGLE TO YOUR SITE

    Yes, you want your site to be linked to google so you can strengthen the pagerank of your blog, right? Well, don't forget to resturn the favor. Google also wants to get their PR high just like us. So, if we want Google to notice us, we have to link Google to our sites. How? By incorporating Google services into your blog such as Google Friend Connect, Google search boxes, Adsense, Google News, Google Translate, etc. You do not need to place all this in your blog. But at least, be kind enough to add at least one to your blog. Remember, "No man is an island" and Google needs your support, too.
Reminder: Google updates PR every 3 to 6 months so always be ready for changes. It might go down or up depending on your link and Google's algorithm. This also means that when you succeed to do so many link exchanges, don't expect a PR change in just a matter of days. Google has its own schedule on when to update PageRanks. When? That remains a mystery. [My PR 3 almost went back to zero a couple of days ago. I panicked! Might have been a false alarm as my PR went back to 3 a few days later.]

Thank you for checking this post. Hope it helps!

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12 comments

  1. Maxi, great posts and analysis of a subject everyone likes to know more about.

    Yeah, I've read the same thing about paid reviews bringing down a PR number. I can see it to some degree because of SEO especially if your site's description has nothing at all to do with the companies being reviewed. Just a hunch, but I'm no expert at all on Google PR because mine is still a zero. LOL!

    I think if they based it solely on the number of tags, I might jump to at least a PR 5 by April! LOL!

    But seriously, I continue to be impressed with how much you care about helping others.

    Great post my dear blugging friend!;):)

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  2. hello, maxie, first time here, too! :* :* :*
    i like your blog, especially this post, very informative since i've been trying to increase my page rank. :* :* :*

    Recent blog post: My Handwriting

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  3. hello 'D!

    you see, Google doesn't only depend PR ratings on how many blogs/websites are linked to you. It mostly depends on how high the PRs of those who link you in their blogs. High PR blogs can pull up your PR. This is why there are some blogs with high PRs who do not accept exchange links with blogs having no PR or low ones. Have you seen some who mention something like this:

    "i only allow link exchange to blogs with a PR3 or above... blah blah blah..."?

    i have seen such sites a lot. although it's their right to do that since it's their property (the blog), i just hope that they will also exchange links with those who are not as high as them.

    maybe, that was why some deleted me in their blogrolls because my PRs not enough. gosh gosh.

    oh oh.. i am not an expert, too when it comes to Google PR. i am just trying to share here what i have gone through my experiences - the ups and downs.

    I hope that when google updates PRs, yours will jump from zero to 5! who knows?

    I hope mine won't drop down.. Sealed as they say - hope for the best. prepare for the worst!

    have a great friday blugging 'D!
    :) :) :)

    Recent blog post: Sleep Tight, Sleep Right!

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  4. I don't know a blasted thing about page ranks, Alexa rankings or any of that stuff. However, I did notice I broke through the 100,000 "Alexa barrier" and wound up with a Google Pagerank of 3 after leaving comments here and there.

    So, I do believe that relevant comments are important, particularly since I tend to delete the "Hi, I came by and looked at your blog!" ones almost instantly.

    I've just started exchanging blogroll links (let me know if you're interested in such an exchange, by the way) and may have some luck there, too.

    Really, I think getting noticed has to do with consistency and just being social -- commenting on posts you like and such.

    I could be wrong, of course...

    Recent blog post: Trouble at Casa de Hawg!

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  5. Nice share, dear :)

    I will follow some instruction in the post.
    Hope my PR will raise in the next Google update.
    Have a nice day..


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  6. thank you elai. i hope that the tips i've posted here will help you and your blog in some way. thanks for dropping by! :)

    Recent blog post: Call The Shots - Become A Traveling Nurse!

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  7. i only was able to break down the 100,000 alexa rank barrier. after that, no more. it keeps on playing somewhere 250,000 plus minus...

    yup. leaving comments will surely increase your blog's visitors as blog owners will surely visit those who usually comment on their blogs.

    good for you! you deserve a PR3 then! :)

    Recent blog post: Call The Shots - Become A Traveling Nurse!

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  8. thank you Jack! although what i did on my blog won't mean that it will also 100% affect your blog the same way as mine. but this is my way of sharing to people how i did it somehow.

    again, thanks for coming over! :)

    Recent blog post: Call The Shots - Become A Traveling Nurse!

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  9. this is very much interesting, i'll try to apply what you did to your blogs here and well see, hope that google will give back my PR2 that never comes back after it take back...

    Recent blog post: Definitely great Magnets

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  10. hello Jack. thanks for dropping by my blog. i hope that you will have an increase in your PR, too! let's hope for that! :)

    Recent blog post: Cheers TV Show!

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  11. hope the tips will help you. good luck and hope you get back your PR2!

    have a nice monday! :)

    Recent blog post: Cheers TV Show!

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  12. Tina from http://www.mummydiariesblog.com11 April 2009 at 12:20

    thanks for the tips. i used to have a pr 3 on 2 of my blogs and it dropped to 0. I thought it was to do with paid posting, but there are a couple of things i havent done in your post and will get onto those now. fingers crossed!

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