We spend a lot of time at Greg Banig Design & Marketing educating client and dealing with misinformation regarding search engine marketing strategies.

This article looks at one key component to search engine marketing - Google page rank - and how companies have popped up looking to make an easy dollar from people who don’t grasp how Google Page Rank works.

Google Page Rank - The Basics
Google is first, and foremost, a popularity contest. The mega search engines original claim-to-fame and how it differentiated itself was it’s landmark “page rank” concept.

In a nutshell, Google’s Page Rank looks at how popular a site is bases on how many external websites link to it. The concept of page rank, or page popularity, has always been the driving point in Google’s algorithm when they rank websites.

Let’s Look at Page Rank
Page rank makes sense on a basic level. Let’s look at a non-website example.

Let’s assume you have 2 restaurants to pick from for dinner. Both restaurants serve the same cuisine, let’s call it Italian. The menus are pretty much identical. Prices are similar too. And, they are next door to each other…location isn’t an issue. Let’s also assume wait time and service are exactly the same. Basically, everything is 100% equal. All you don’t know is which one has better food.

So, which restaurant do you pick? Toss a coin? Ask a stranger? What if you knew that Italian Restaurant #1 averages 500 patrons a night while Italian Restaurant #2 averages 50 patrons a night.

Obviosuly most people would pick Italian Restaurant #1 with 500 patrons. All things equal, the larger number of customers tells us that Italian Restaurant #1 is the better choice.

That’s the heart of Google’s Page Rank. It shows us how popular an item, or website, is compared to its competitors.

Looking to Profit on Page Rank
Page rank sounds simple. And, there are hundreds of companies that want to take your money to provide a higher page rank. They offer linking services or reciprocal linking services for a fee.

It sounds great. Google ranks bases on links. A company claims they can provide hundreds or thousands of links for a fee…anywhere from $100 to thousands of dollars.

You get links to your site within days or weeks. Clearly it makes sense to do this. But, if you buy into this kind of service you might as well throw away your toilet paper and just flush you money down the drain.

Why Don’t Linking Services Work?
So why don’t these linking services work?

Let’s start by looking at Google’s Page Rank from a high level. Page rank is what made Google a success. It’s what continues to make Google a hundred billion (that’s right, “billion” with a “b”) dollar business. The future of Google is based in the strength and validity of its page rank.

So, does it stand to reason that a company that could charge a mere fee, several hundred to several thousand dollars, could really get page 1 Google rankings?

If those companies could really deliver the results they claim why would they sell such a valuable item for a small fee? Why not keep their secrets and build websites that capitalize on their “inside information.”

Why not? Because it doesn’t work they way they claim.

Google has protected and evolved their Page Rank much faster than the vulture companies.

Here’s how it really works. Let’s stick with the Italian Restaurant example.

Italian Restaurant #1 with 500 customers per night. Italian Restaurant #2 with 50 customers per night.

But what if Italian Restaurant #1, with their 500 customers per night, had 100 customers that were interested in jewelry, 100 that were looking for Viagra, 275 that were looking to invest with the former Prime Minister of Nigeria?

Now Italian Restaurant #1 has 500 customers but only 25 relevant customers. Compared to Italian Restaurant #2 with 50 relevant customers, Italian Restaurant #2 is now the best choice.

So What Works With Google Page Rank
One thing works - links from related, similar websites.

How do you get these kinds of links? You add and maintain relevant, timely content. Plain and simple.

If you still think the linking services work and that they offer a magic bean for growing a bean stalk to search engine prowess…well, then, we just might have some ocean front real estate in Nevada you should take a look at.

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Article by Greg Banig Design & Marketing, http://www.gregbanigdesign.com