PageRank also considers the importance of each page that casts a vote, as votes from some pages are considered to have greater value, thus giving the linked page greater value. This page rank updates are done by Google from time to time and do not have any fixed time duration.

PageRank History

PageRank was developed at Stanford University by Larry Page and Sergey Brin as part of a research project about a new kind of search engine. The name “PageRank” is a trademark of Google, and the PageRank process has been patented (U.S. Patent 6,285,999). However, the patent is assigned to Stanford University and not to Google. Google has exclusive license rights on the patent from Stanford University.

The university received 1.8 million shares of Google in exchange for use of the patent; the shares were sold in 2005 for $336 million. PageRank is named after Larry Page and used by the Google Internet search engine. The name “PageRank” is a trademark of Google.

How is Page Rank measured?

PageRank is measured on a scale of one to ten and assigned to individual pages within a website and not the entire website. The index page of a site is the first place a Page Rank may be given followed by inner pages if it has link popularity.

How can I see the Page Rank of a Website?

To find the PageRank of a page, download and install Google Toolbar on your web brouser.

Do not try to Manipulate PageRank

For search engine optimization purposes, some companies offer to sell high PageRank links to webmasters. As links from higher-PR pages are believed to be more valuable, they tend to be more expensive. It can be an effective and viable marketing strategy to buy text link advertisements on content pages of quality and relevant sites to drive traffic and increase a webmaster’s link popularity. However, Google has publicly warned webmasters that if they are or were discovered to be selling links for the purpose of conferring PageRank and reputation, their links will be devalued.

“Link farming” is another method people try to manipulate PageRank. A link farm is any group of web sites that all hyperlink to every other site in the group. Although some link farms can be created by hand, most are created through automated programs and services. A link farm is a form of spamming the index of a search engines. If you’ve ever run into a web site that has no content but only links to other websites,
you may have run into a link farm.

How to increase Page Rank of your website.

If you wish to increase your PageRank, you need to have “back-links,” or other people linking to your website. You can trade links with other webmasters who have a website with similar trade or theme. You can also submit your website to link directories. As you build web pages within your website, you can create some of your own back-links by linking to relevant pages within your own website.

To get one way links, improvement in Search Engine rankings & to increase the link popularity of your website, you should use directory submissions as part of your websites optimization and promotion. Search engines give importance to the number of inbound links to your site when ranking it for a given position during search and one way links are thought to be valued more than reciprocal links (i.e. links exchanged with other sites).

Most directories provide one way links, which is beneficial from the SEO aspect of your site.
Thus, directory links can help give a boost to your SEO efforts. Most directories allow you to provide a link with keywords describing your site. It’s not easy getting links to your site with the keywords you want and directories serve as the easiest medium for getting such links. Getting links with targeted keywords or phrases can have search engines favoring your site over others when ranking for the given terms.

Using various link anchor text you can increase the possibility of your website being found under these keywords or phrases when they are typed into a search engine.
After all, if you want your website to be successful, it would have to be found by people and the best way for that would be your site coming up on top for the searches that matters most. When people search using particular words, you would want your site showing up in the first few results for those words. Most directories are free to submit, it makes business sense to having your site listed in as many SEO friendly directories as possible. After all, you don’t lose anything for doing so. To get your website indexed by major search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing, they send out spiders, crawlers or robots
to search the web for new sites that come up everyday.

When using directory submissions, you can get your website listed in Google and other major search engines in a matter of days sometimes because of major search engines find new websites through incoming links. If your site is new or just been launched, a web directory link would help the search engine in finding your site and including it in its database. So given the benefit of web directory links, it only makes sense to get your site submitted to as many directories as possible.

Thus, if you have a brand new site and you want search engines to know of its existence, then there couldn’t be an easier way to let a search engine know than having it find your site through links in various link directories. So remember that Directory Submission helps a new site in getting indexed on all major search engines.

Directory listings are maintained by volunteer editors. While some editors focus on the addition of new listings, others focus on maintaining the existing listings. Due to the popularity of the Open Directory which has a page ranking 8, and its resulting impact on search engine rankings, webmasters are submitting their sites to be added to the DMOZ directory

Getting listed in Dmoz (http://www.dmoz.org) has always been a major concern for those webmasters who know what difference a Dmoz listing can make to their site’s search engine positioning. As Dmoz is a free volunteered directory, it requires your site to be the best in your industry, if it is not then make sure to make it.

But many people are not aware of the things that are responsible for getting a listing in Dmoz, there are some dos and don’ts that make your site into Dmoz but what are they? what things you need to follow? and what things are to be avoided? following are few important tips which you need to follow strictly if you want to be listed.

Here are some things to remember when submitting your sites to DMOZ

1. Search for the right category before submitting.

Most of the sites submitted to Dmoz are rejected due to having submitted to improper or wrong categories, so you must find out the most relevant category for your site before submitting it to Dmoz. If you are unsure about which category you should submit to then just do a search in Dmoz for the sites similar to yours and note down the category to which they have been submitted to. If you have done this one correctly then you are having the most relevant category for your website. Now just go on and submit to the category you have got.

2. Make sure that your site has a uniqueness, originality and quality content.

Make sure your site has no ads and no links just contents before submitting. Now if the content is unique, and cannot be found somewhere else, and can stand on its own then you will most likely get added just be a little patient.

People nowadays are looking for more and more quality content and they get annoyed with the sites having nothing more than a bunch of affiliate links or sales letters. If your site lacks in content then you have no chance of making into the directory as DMOZ is looking for the sites which have a strong base of original and quality content, if your site doesn’t has sufficient content then make sure to add a few reviews, articles and other additional information about your services and products.

3. The title needs to be the name of the site not keywords.

When writing your descriptions don’t add fluff or hype of any kind just state how your site is unique and what can be found there. For examples read the descriptions of sites that are already in your category at DMOZ.

4. Make sure your web site has a good design with easy navigations and menus.

It adds more to your credibility if your site is professionally design to look appealing. You might have seen many unprofessionally designed sites making into Dmoz, so this not really a factor for your inclusion in the directory but as we know that the editors of the Dmoz directory are also human beings so a professionally designed site does make a good impression on them and thus increases your chances for inclusion in Dmoz.

5. Be sure to put your contact information on the web site and have a submit message page.

Now just putting an email address is not enough. If you are doing a business you need people to trust you by showing them your physical address, so that they don’t think that you are a run away business. Many times the editors reject sites if they don’t see any physical contact information on the site, so it is very much necessary for you to put up at least your phone number on your contacts page, also putting your physical address would be much better.

6. Check your site for broken links and spelling errors.

Before submitting your site to the Dmoz directory make sure to check your website for broken links and spelling errors, though the editors are looking for quality but they are also human beings and will be annoyed by lots of errors and clumsily designed sites, so be sure to check and correct the errors if any before you submit your site to Dmoz.

7. It takes any where between 12 to 18 months before your site is reviewed by the editors at DMOZ.

Many categories don’t have full or part time editors so volunteer to be an editor. Follow the submissions to become an editor at DMOZ. They are looking for active editors not just someone who wants to add their sites and leave. There is a back log of hundreds of sites that needed editing and approval.

So if you have great content the editors will find you. Hope that helps!