Tinsology

After hearing some noise about Google having updated page rank, I got curious and decided to check the PR of this site. I launched this site shortly before the last update, when it was assigned the rank of zero. This time around, to my surprise, I found that the index, as well as one other page was ranked 4. This was surprising because I have not made any deliberate effort to increase the rank of this site. I didn’t submit to directories, I haven’t purchased links, spammed blogs or forums, or consulted with an ‘SEO Expert’.

So, how then, did I accomplish this feat? Did I discover a secret SEO technique? Did I go down the street to my local Google building and hold them up at gun point? If I had a secret I’d tell you. The reality is that I have been focusing almost exclusively on my content. At times, actually, it seems to me that that IS the secret. Whenever I see people asking how to increase their page rank, I see responses like “get more backlinks” and “post your links on forums”. I never see someone respond “improve the quality of your content”.

I don’t claim to all of a sudden be an expert on the topic, nor do I intend to brag up this ‘accomplishment’. My point is that spending time dropping links, submitting to directories, and sending fruit baskets to Google should all be secondary to improving your content. It is important to understand that high page rank is a symptom of high traffic. If  I, for whatever reason, wanted to catch the flu would I focus on giving myself a headache and inducing vomiting? No. I would go to the hospital, get down on my hands and knees, and start licking some floors. The same thing is true of page rank and traffic (not the licking floors part). Artificially increasing PR by spamming links will not lead to increased traffic.