Why Don’t I Have a PageRank Yet?

Many companies who are starting out notice Google has yet to assign a PageRank to their website. Usually this is identified by a PR0. While this rank could also be the result of SPAMdexing, it’s more likely that you’re waiting for Google to rank you. If you have a significant number of back links in the Google search results, but no PageRank–there is a very good chance that you actually do have a PageRank, but it just hasn’t been published by Google’s PR servers yet. There is a 2-3 month delay, according to representatives at Google, before your PR is made public.

How does PageRank work?

PageRank is the science behind where you rank in the search results. The higher your PR, the higher up in the results for a specific keyword. The lower your PR, the lower in the results. A PR is achieved by the following four factors:

• The total amount of recommendations you have (in other words, the number of relevant back links). Note: these back links must be related to your website and be relevant.
• The amount of links from high PR websites has a much bigger impact than links from low PR websites.
• Your PR is diluted by the amount of external links on your own website. In other words, if you are linking to a bunch of other websites, you are lowering your score.
• and finally, websites that have been around longer have a much bigger impact or your PR than websites that have only been around for a short period of time. It is sometimes better to have a back link from a lower PR that is aged, than a higher PR who is new to the web.

If you would like to estimate your PageRank, you can do so by using the following method. Look up the PageRank for each of your back links. Then, calculate the total point value using the table below:

PR1 = 8 points

PR2 = 64 points

PR3 = 512 points

PR4 = 4096 points

PR5 = 32768 points

PR6 = 262144 points

PR7 = 2097152 points

PR8 = 16777216 points

PR9 = 134217728 points

PR10 = 1073741824 points

Next, take your total point value and enter it into the formula below where C(A) represents the total number of back links:

PR(pts) * 0.85 / C(A) = PR points transferred through one link

Here are a few things to consider when PR-building:

• If you are able to, start off with an older domain name. If you can purchase a website that’s been around for a while, you will rank faster.
• Extend your domain name registration for 10 years. If you know you’re going to be around for a while, let Google know.
• Add rel=”nofollow” to your anchor tag to prevent GoogleBot from following links and pages that dilute your PR.

If you would like to begin link building, check out the table below:

As you can see, it takes much more effort to achieve a higher PR simply by adding back links. It is far easier to build your PageRank if you can get the attention of high PR websites.

We have a tool in our resources section so you can see the amount of back links and how Google currently ranks your website. Click here for the PR tool.