Submitting guest blogs and articles on another’s site in exchange for a quality back-link has become, over the last few months, a key SEO tactic.
But the Holy Grail within this technique is only using sites with a high page rank, or as it’s known, PR.
The trouble is of course, like celebrity endorsements, these are not easy to come by. I occasionally have a laugh by going onto a popular freelance site and seeing people requesting back-links, but only to sites with a PR of nine, or above.
Hilarious. What they fail to realise is that PR10, currently the highest rank you can get for a website, represents the most credible sites on earth. Websites like USA.gov, the U.S. Government’s official web portal and there are about 11 others enjoying such exulted status. Now, try getting a link from those and you’ll see the problem. Indeed, there are only 148 websites with a PR9 rank and that includes the BBC.
The point is, to get a link from these is nigh on impossible, as sites with a good PR rank are more discerning than others and they have lots of potential contributors.
Okay, it gets less tricky as you go down the PR rank scale (at 6, or 7, you still have to work hard), but is the idea of shunning sites with a PR rank of 1 to 3, correct.
No, because these sites will welcome contributions and if you pick them correctly, then they are likely to increase their PR rank and provide you with greater value.
The only thing is how to avoid the websites which will never grow. Firstly, don’t go for sites which appear dormant; that rarely update their copy. Secondly, just give it a quick go; can you navigate properly and does the site appear intuitive? If it doesn’t work for you, then it’s unlikely to work for the search engine bots. Finally, make sure that the content on the site is original and not being copied/lifted from elsewhere.
In short, yes, the higher the PR rank the better, but don’t totally disregard the potential of lower rank websites. They could prove a very good investment indeed.