Step 2: Increasing Your Site's Importance With Google

Google is THE biggest search engine out there, so getting Google to view your site as important is crucial for having high rankings. So how do you do that? Simple: by boosting the Google PageRank of your site.

Here's a quick no-brainer guide to PageRank...

So what is PageRank?

Literally, it is the value Google assigns to your page. PageRank is simply a numeric representation (from 0 to 10) of how important a page is to Google, with 10 being the highest value. From now on, PageRank will sometimes be referred to as simply "PR".

It works like this. Google figures that when one page links to another page, it is essentially casting a "vote" for that other page. The more "votes" a page has, the more important the page.

But it gets even more interesting. Not all "voters" are equal. This means, the importance of the page that's casting the vote determines how important the vote itself is. So the higher the PR of the page that's casting the vote, the "weightier" the vote, and the higher the rankings.

Here's a quick summary:

• PageRank is Google's way of deciding your site's importance, and takes the values of 0 to 10.
  
• 0 is the lowest PageRank, while 10 is the highest.
  
• PageRank is one of the critical factors that can make or break your rankings.
  
• The more links (or "votes") from high PageRank pages your site has, the greater its importance in Google.
  

From now on, PageRank will sometimes be referred to as simply "PR".

How can I view PageRank for my site?

The easiest way to do that is by installing the Google Toolbar. Google Toolbar is available for Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. With it, you'll be able to view the PR of any site you visit. Just take a look at the little green stripe on the toolbar.

Here's a sample screenshot of a site in a browser with Google Toolbar installed:


As you can see, this site has a PR of 6, which is very good. Most developed sites have a PR of 4 or 5.

Note: While PR is certainly very important, remember that you do not need to get a PR much greater than your competitor's! The same PR or +1 is enough. E.g. if your competitor has a PageRank of 4, all you need is 4 or 5. If your competitor's PR is just 3, get a PR of 4 and you'll be fine.

How do I boost my PageRank?

In short, you need links from high PageRank sites. This is different in each specific case. Below is the exact list of sites you should get links from to boost your PR. Buy, beg or steal, but you absolutely need links from at least these important resources (also, for optimum results, your links must come from the exact pages in the "Page" column!):

The exact steps you need to take right now...

Basically, you have 3 simple options on how to get these sites to link to you:

1. Swap links. Place a link on your site somewhere, then email the webmasters asking for a similar favor in return. Explain the value of link exchange, and most webmasters will gladly place a link back to you. Here's a sample email template you can use (it's a sample, so feel free to tweak it as you need):
    
   
   Hello,
   
   I'm the webmaster of www.yoursite.com. I've just came across your site, and I really liked both the design and the content.
   
   Also, because your site's theme is related to mine, I feel that my visitors will find it a valuable resource. So I went ahead and placed a link to you here:
   
   www.yoursite.com/resources.html
   
   I'd really appreciate it if you returned the favor and put a link to me somewhere on your site.
   
   Thanks,
   Josh
   
   
2. Offer something. That's right, just offer something valuable or interesting in exchange for a link. Examples may include a discount on your product, a free copy of it, a free eBook, writing an article that features a site you're interested in, making a post on your blog, etc. etc. etc. Just use your imagination!
   
   
3. Buy links. This is the fastest way, but of course there's a price to pay. Just email the site's webmasters and ask how much it would cost to get a link. Most of them will be happy to sell you a link for as little as $30-40 a month.
   

And remember, get links from the exact pages mentioned above, and you'll be well on your way to a massive increase in Google rankings, guaranteed!