Make Money Blogging. A Beginners Story - Part 2
Do Backlinks From High PR Sites Count For More?
We left New Blogger (NB) and SEO Guru (SEO) in the middle of their conversation about How To Make Money Blogging.
It looks like they are in for the long haul. So let’s see how they are getting along:
NB: I’ll go get us a beer.
SEO: Make that two…
NB: Yeah, course. Now you were talking about good quality backlinks. I know we all want quality, but what exactly does that mean?
SEO: Let’s take it from the G man’s point of view. G is offering a search service right?
NB: Yeah, of course….
SEO: And they are a business. A very powerful one. And they want to keep at the top, so they have to offer their customers good quality and lots of it, otherwise everyone would go elsewhere.
NB: But their customers aren’t the searchers, are they?
SEO: Good point and not directly, no… but we’ll discuss that some other time, it can get kinda complicated. For now, we just need to know that the G man wants to provide quality searches. Ok?
NB: Ok. So what does Google call a quality search? Anything on Wikipedia?
SEO: Yeah, I know it seems like it, but forget that for now.
NB: Ok…
SEO: There’s one school of thought which says links from high PR sites - the higher the better - get you quality backlinks, so these count the most.
NB: Yeah, I read about that. Is it true?
SEO: Well, it can be. But we need to concentrate here on getting your blog on the front page of Google when it comes out of the sandbox, and links from high PR sites won’t always do that.
NB: So getting high PR links is a waste of time then?
SEO: No, not at all. If the G man has given a site a high PR rating, then it’s like saying to them “you’re quality man”. So, if that site links to you, it’s like it is telling big G that it thinks you are quality too.
NB: Makes sense. So, I need to go and get me some backlinks from high PR sites. The more the better…
SEO: But that’s not enough.
NB: Sigh… didn’t think it would be…
SEO: No. Because a site with thousands of links from mainly low PR sites can still slam your site in the results pages by sheer numbers.
NB: So it’s not all about quality…?
SEO: Well, the G man says it is, but it’s still a numbers game man. And there’s something else about PR too.
NB: Thought there would be somehow…
SEO: When a site has a high PR, everyone is after them for backlinks.
NB: Yeah, course…
SEO: Well, just think about that. You bought two beers right?
NB: Yeah. You ready for another?
SEO: Not right now, let’s concentrate first. Now, say two guys come and sit down with us and can’t afford a beer. They want to share ours…
NB: My beer? I don’t think so!
SEO: Let’s just pretend here man. Ok?
NB: Ok (rapidly gulping down beer…)
SEO: So, we’ve now got 2 beers and 4 guys drinking them. We all end up with less beer, right?
NB: Ok, got it. The more sites the high PR site links to, the less beer we all get.
SEO: I hope you’re joking there man?
NB: Yeah, course. PR get’s diluted. Perhaps you should have said we had to water down the beer…?
SEO: That’s the theory, yes. PR gets diluted by how many links the site gives out. So, if your competitor has thousands of links coming in from low PR sites, but those sites don’t give out many links, and you have a few hundred links coming in, mainly from high PR sites which give out loads of links, then it’s highly likely he will beat you in the search engine results.
NB: Ok, I got that part. Now all I need to do is go and find those links. Any ideas on that?
SEO: Yeah, plenty.
NB: Good. And with all that social bookmarking and commenting I’ve been doing, I’ve made a start on showing Google I mean business, so if I do the link building right, when I come out of the sandbox, I’ll be high in the search engines.
SEO: Takes some work and don’t forget about linking with your keywords. But we’ll talk more about how to get backlinks next time. You’ve been doing ok up to now, by the way.
NB: Thanks SEO. I read somewhere that all that commenting could count for links too, but only if the blogs I comment on are ‘dofollow’, not ‘nofollow’. Is that right?
SEO: That’s right, but we’ll discuss that more next time, along with all the other link building strategies you can use. OK?
NB: Thanks man! I’ll get us another beer before we go.
SEO: Make that two…
To be continued…
Ha ha this one is better than the prelude cos you set it up in a more casual and relax setting. I kind of like the analogy of less beers for more drinkers.
I haven’t been blogging long enough to understand the way big G is counting the inbound links but it just make common sense that you don’t accumulate links from unrelevant sites or as some may call it, bad neigborhod.
As to whether your PR will get diluted by passing out more links (would I disagree? - from your comment on PB), I’m still figuring it out. You may be right on that theory but I’m still skeptical about it without disagreeing. But then you’ve been long enough playing the game to know something I know nothing about. I certainly respect your opinion on this issue.
With the new PR I just got, I’m looking at the possibility of removing the dofollow from my site or perhaps I’d risk it for the sake of seeking the truth. Time will tell…
Good day, lady..
Make that three…
Fantastically written and informative. Was that based on any such convrsation or is this your new way to get your point across? Either way I like it. If it was beer and not google juice I would cetainly make mine no follow
@Yan,
Thanks, I’m glad you are enjoying my little ‘how to make money blogging’ serial
I like casual. I think better that way.
As to my comment on PB’s site, It was just a suggestion. There are probably other factors in the equation for JK regarding PR. It was just that he asked that question.
Google algorithms are a mystery to me, just like they are to most people, if they spoke the truth. I can only go by what I find out and ways which work for me when I promote my sites.
(Most of my adult sites are still between PR 0 and PR2 btw, and will remain that way (knock on wood for the PR2 ones…), but that’s ok, because I use other link building strategies for adult).
To use a well-used phrase, I think the jury is still very much out on the subject of whether making a blog ‘dofollow’ affects your PR. Some very experienced MMO bloggers say no, while others, just as experienced, often say little on the subject, but keep their comments ‘nofollow’.
I can only go by what I see happening out there - what is said and what is done….
I’ll follow your experience with ‘dofollow’ with interest
@AP,
We call beer ‘cerveza’ here (as I guess you know) and it’s always cold. It made me quite thirsty writing that post as the temp outside was over 39c as I was typing away. Just had to raid the fridge for a cerveza or two (or three…)
Glad you like the new approach
It won’t always be that way (I have a post to do now which doesn’t follow that line), it was just the way all this stuff was worked out in my head. Maybe I’m strange that way…?
Thanks for saying my little post on PR and backlinks was informative. I can only try my best
July 27th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
[...] seen as an Authority Blog in the eyes of Google. Nevertheless, as I said in my previous post about backlinks, many links from a PR0 blog can still be very useful, most particularly if the blog is in the same [...]
Loved it, and very informative. I’ve wondered if outgoing links have an effect on the site, or how many outgoing links will effect the power or link juice.
I love how you write these conversations too!
Thanks JK,
Of course this is all theory. Who knows for sure….?
Matt Cutts maybe…
And as for the effect of outgong links on the site handing them out… all I can say is that experience has shown me that it can work against you (and in quite bad ways too, but that’s another story, not related to ‘dofollow’ as such…)
But there again, sometimes it doesn’t seem to affect the site at all.
Go figure!