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There has been a lot written about Google's Page Rank, and its importance, but unfortunately, much of it is more about where you are listed in Google's search results than it is about Page Rank. It is important to understand a couple of things about Page Rank before you can decide on how important it is for your article.

First, pages get ranked, not sites. While the front page of a site may rank well, many of the pages within that site will not share that ranking. For instance, Helium's main page has a Page Rank of 5 (PR:5). That does not mean that the articles in Heliums library will also have a PR:5. Each page is ranked individually.

Second, Google's Page Rank is determined by the amount and quality of links associated with your page. Page Rank does not consider Meta Tags, keyword density, or many other Search Engine Optimization techniques. It is about links. While those items are important in how high you list in the search results, they do not affect Page Rank.

Page Rank is determined by the number and quality of pages that link to your site, and the number and quality of pages that link to the pages that link to your site. The quality of the link is determined by relevancy (how it relates to your page) of the page that is linking to your page, and the Page Rank of that page.

As an example, if two pages are linking to your page, and they are both about topics that are similar to your article, the link from the higher Page Ranked page will be considered a higher quality link. If however, one page is related to your article, and the other page is about a completely unrelated topic, the page that is more relevant will be given a higher quality rating.

So, back to the original question of whether you should be concerned about your articles Page Rank. The answer is "No."

Google has claimed that Page Rank is at the heart of its site listing technology, but it is just a part of what is considered when your page is listed. Do a search for any phrase and you will see a mix of high RP and lower PR pages. You will also notice that many times the page with the lower PR will be listed above a page with a higher PR. While increasing your articles Page Rank will certainly help get it listed higher, it is not a guarantee of a great listing. Likewise, a lower PR will not banish your page to the Google basement.

Promote your article, build links when and where you can, an your articles Page Rank will take care of itself.

Learn more about this author, Jim Smoot.
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