Page Rank and Search Engine Ranking Position

Google Page Rank (PR) and Search Engine Ranking Position (SERP) are always integrated TOO MUCH to each other by many newbies. Lots of newbies think that having high PR will put them into good SERP (especially in Google); also, they think that having good SERP means having high PR. In reality, Google Page Rank and (Google) search engine ranking position are two different things and calculated in different ways. Now, let us see the difference between Google Page Rank and Search Engine Ranking Position.

Google Page Rank or PR (named after Larry Page) show the importance of a webpage to World Wide Web. According to Google’s description about Google Page Rank:

PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves “important” weigh more heavily and help to make other pages “important”.

Based from this description of Google Page Rank, we can say that the result of Page Rank of a particular webpage is based on the number of webpages linking to it. For example, each link gain by SEO Explorer Blog will count like a “one vote” on how important SEO Explorer Blog is to World Wide Web. Also, the Page Rank of the webpage that casted the “vote” is also a factor; so, linking to high Page rank webpage can give you high Page rank, too. It is not necessary for a page to have many inbound links to rank well. A single link from a high ranking page is sufficient. You can check the Page Rank of a website using different Page Rank Checker Tools like the following:

Google PageRank Checker–  a live Page Rank checker online; also provide PR badge to show the Page Rank of your website.

Valid Rank – Another live Page Rank checker online.

Google Toolbar – provides PR bar at your FireFox browser, showing the PR of the website you currently viewing.

Search Status – provide Page Rank of currently viewing website in text or bar format; show also Alexa Rank.

On the other hand, Search Engine Ranking Position (SERP) is the actual search result position of a website in a search engine based from the given search query. The higher placement in search engine search query result means higher SERP rank. SERP of a website for a particular keyword varies since each search engine (Google, Yahoo!, Bing) has different algorithm. In Google, Page Rank is one of more than 200 search engine ranking factors. Keyword use anywhere in the title tag, keyword use in the root domain name, substantive / unique content on the page, and recency /freshness of page creation are the top ranking factors in Google.

It’s much accurate to check SERP manually; but to help you check your SERP faster, here are some tools to check your SERP: (NOTE: the following tools may NOT PROVIDE ACCURATE RESULT; don’t rely to this completely.)

Google SERP Checker – a Google SERP checker that check website ranking position up to 1000th position or 100th page.

SERP Rush – an SERP checker for Google, Yahoo, and Bing; check website position up to 250th position or 25th page.

SEOBook Rank Checker – a FireFox Adds-On that check website SERP in Google, Yahoo, and Bing in multiple keywords.

Page Rank and Search Engine Ranking Position are both important. With high Page Rank, you will gain “authority” in World wide Web; on the other hand, with good search engine ranking position, you will received more “organic” traffics from search engines; much easier for you to reach your targeted audiences. I’m suggesting that you focus more on having good SERP; for me, because PR can be gain naturally.