Don’t Get Scammed – Check Fake PageRank Before You Buy

Why should you check fake PageRank before you buy a website based on its PageRank? Because it’s not too hard to fake as you’ll soon discover. Before we dive into that and before I show you how to check fake PageRank, I want to provide a brief primer for those who may be new to Internet Marketing or who might want a quick review of the subject. It’s important you understand what PageRank is, what role it plays with Google, and how to check PageRank as many sellers highlight their websites’ PageRank as a selling point.

What Is PageRank?

PageRank, also known as PR, is a numeric value that Google assigns to a web page. In theory, the number tells us the importance of that web page on the Internet. The values range from 0 to 10, with 10 being the highest and most important. For example, a PR6 website is “more important,” or has more authority, than a PR5 website. In addition, each level of PR is ten times higher than the next so that same PR6 website is ten times higher than the PR5 website.

How Is PageRank Calculated?

Don’t ask! Seriously, unless you are a math geek and really get into algorithms you don’t want to know. If you insist on knowing, then click here to read an indepth explanation from WebWorkShop.net. For the rest of us, let me explain it on a very high level.

When one page links to another, Google sees that as a “vote” for the page being linked to. The more links it gets, the more important the page must be in the eyes of Google. The number of links to a page isn’t the only thing that matters, however. The importance of those links themselves also plays a role in Google’s calculation of PageRank. The importance of the page providing the link, in other words the PR of the page linking to another page, will determine the importance of the link. Google then takes the number and importance of the links to a page to determine its PageRank.

Confused yet? The bottom line is this, the more links you have pointing to your web page from other “higher” PR pages, the higher PageRank your page will be!

Is PageRank Important?

Yes and no. It matters to some extent because it is one of many factors that Google uses to determine your page’s ranking in the Google search engine. However, it is a minor factor in determining the ranking. You see examples of this all the time. It’s not uncommon to see PR0 pages rank very well for various keywords while other higher PR pages don’t rank well at all for the same keywords.

Google itself says PageRank isn’t that important. It was not only removed from Google Webmaster Tools in 2009, but Google Webmaster Trends Analyst, Susan Moskwa, said this in an article on WebProNews.com, “We’ve been telling people for a long time that they shouldn’t focus on PageRank so much…” There was even a push to remove the PageRank indicator on the Google Toolbar but as stated in the same article, Google wouldn’t remove it because it was too much of their branding.

Based on all that, you would probably conclude that PageRank isn’t such a big deal after all and you’d be right. However, until Google officially says PageRank is dead and no longer supports it, it will always play an important role in the buying and selling of domains and websites. That being the case, it’s important you know how to check fake PageRank so you don’t get scammed.

What Is The PageRank of a Given Page?

The easiest way to check PageRank for a web page is to have the Google Toolbar installed on your browser. The Toolbar has a “PageRank” indicator on it that will tell you instantly the PageRank of any web page you visit. Alternatively, there are a number of places online that you can check PageRank. One website that I always use is PRChecker.info.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The PageRank you see isn’t entirely accurate. The PR of a web page is always in flux but Google only “officially” releases the PageRank data periodically throughout the year so the PR you see is technically old. Furthermore, the PR shown doesn’t tell you if it is fake or not.

Check Fake PageRank

It is amazingly simple to fake PageRank of a given web page. What these scammers do is redirect a domain to a higher PR domain. The PageRank shown then for the lower PR domain actually reflects the higher PR of the domain being redirected to. As simple as it is to fake PageRank, it is equally as simple to check fake PageRank. Here is how you do it:

Go to Google.com and enter:

info:www.DomainYouAreChecking.com

You should also check the non-WWW version as well:

Info:DomainYouAreChecking.com

If a different domain name appears in the search results then it usually means the domain has been redirected and the PageRank for the domain is fake. Take a look at this example: www.PodcastingProfessionals.com is a domain with a supposed PR8 for sale on GoDaddy auctions at the time of this writing. However, if we check fake PageRank for it we see this:

Notice the domain that shows up in the search results isn’t PodcastingProfessionals.com. Instead what shows up is Twingly.com – a PR8 domain:)

You should now have a solid understanding of PageRank and how to check fake PageRank. Armed with this information you will now be able to make better buying decisions whether you are buying aged domains or websites.

Tagged as: Buying Tips, Due Diligence