Member Avatar for HelenLF

I understand that you should only set up link exchanges with websites that have a pagerank equal or higher than your own site.
I have received a request from a site with a high pagerank but the page where they would be placing the link to my site does not have a pagerank. Does this matter, or does Google just consider the overall rank of the website when deciding the quality of the link?

  • 7 Contributors
  • 8 Replies
  • 104 Views
  • 3 Days Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by dandan594

Dani AI

Generated

Short answer: the visible PageRank number is a blunt, often-outdated signal. What actually determines value is the linking page itself — whether Google indexes it, whether the link is editorial and in-content, the surrounding text and anchor, any rel attributes, and whether the page sits in a clean, trusted site or a link-exchange network. For a practical decision, inspect the page; do not rely on a single toolbar PR value.

Quick checks to run before agreeing to the exchange:

  • Is the page indexed and cached by Google? Use a site: query or Google cache to confirm.
  • Is the link editorial (in the main content) or buried in a footer/list/sidebar?
  • Does the anchor include useful, relevant anchor text and not look auto-generated?
  • Does the anchor have a rel attribute? Look for rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored" which prevents or changes how Google treats the link.
  • How many outbound links are on the page? Lots of outgoing links dilute value.
  • Has the domain recently changed hands or content (use the Wayback Machine) and who owns it (WHOIS)?

Example: view the page source and check the anchor tag; a link with rel="nofollow" looks like:

<a href="https://your-site.example" rel="nofollow">your text</a>

Avoid obvious paid or reciprocal link networks. Google's webmaster guidance treats manipulative paid/link-exchange schemes as a risk to rankings; see their note on link schemes for details (). Use the Wayback Machine and WHOIS for domain history checks (web.archive.org, whois.icann.org).

This builds on points from (check history/ownership), (watch for obvious exchanges) and (topical relevance). If the page passes the checks and the placement is editorial and topical, accept it; if it looks paid or part of a network, either decline or insist on a nofollow/sponsored attribute and an in-body editorial placement.

Recommended Answers

All 8 Replies

Member Avatar for Tiggerito

This is often a trick. The high page rank site may be on its last legs and they are milking it.

Do some research on the website. whois, wayback and see if it has recently changed.

Member Avatar for AirForceOne

Hi,

I think you would mainly receive the PR juice from the page your links on. So, it might be no value for such an exchange, IMO.

all the best,

Member Avatar for manzarr

I completely agree. Not sure why people here are complaining about pagerank where it should be about rankings.

Member Avatar for almostbob

Follow the logic(? or not) of the OP

  • Only accept links from sites higher than yours
  • do not link to sites lower than yours

If the premise were valid
Nobody that you want a link from would link to you
Nobody that wants to link to you would be accepted by you.
Pagerank offered as evidence of the value of a site have nothing to do with Google pagerank algorithm, Total BS, without value

Google page rank algorithm is about the best kept secret on the planet.

We also analyze the content of neighboring web pages to ensure the results returned are the most relevant to a user's query.

Ignore the BS, take the link

1 link is better than no link, wherever it comes from

Edited by almostbob because: n/a
Member Avatar for mathis

dude it doesnt matter whats your page rank is :)
if you have done the right seo than your site will definetly be at the first page first rank with 0 page rank :)
so in my opinion page rank just tell you how much it contains traffic per day,, it doesnt deal with the ranking on the google..
but high page rank means high value :) it also suggest that your site is not new and its informative thats why people are coming on it daily :)

Member Avatar for HelenLF

Thanks everyone for your replies - great advice and information as always.

Member Avatar for almostbob

Remember the Search algorithms are smart. obvious link exchanges are worse than ignored, they downgrade the site.
Relevant link exchange is the key thing, from sites related similar local

Member Avatar for dandan594

The best trick is only link to a site that has relevant subject matter to your own.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.