Using the threshold to derive the worth of two ranking strategies

The threshold explains principles and the different ways that search engine marketers work. It also demonstrates why some of the misunderstandings about PageRank occur. Let's consider the strategies of two people, Person A consders PageRank to be unimportant, and Person B considers PageRank to be very important.

Person A says "PageRank" is unimportant. They have optimised pages for years and know how to use "on the page" factors very successfully. They understand the basics of anchor text but they couldn't care at all about PageRank.

What's happening: person A is reaching the Non-PageRank Factor Threshold very quickly because they are maximising the "on the page" factors. Through carefully choosing keywords they jump-start themselves up the SERPs. As long as their content is good, high-ranking sites (over time) tend to get linked to. Whilst they didn't directly ask for it, a slow trickle of sites will begin to link to them and give them PageRank, which helps consolidates their position.

Person B says "PageRank" is important. We've all seen those pages in the results that have no content, but great rankings (With big brands, this can often occur naturally even when they have no idea what PageRank is. This would be Person C who is not relevant to the discussion at hand.) Person B understands lots about PageRank and concentrates heavily on it.

What's happening: person B is doing the reverse of person A. Whilst person A concentrated on the Non-PageRank factors and found herself getting PageRank anyway, person B concentrates on the PageRank Factor and finds himself getting Non-PageRank factors. The reason for this is that increasing

PageRank requires links, and links have anchor text. Thus, through carefully choosing the anchor text linking to his page, person B automatically increases his Non-PageRank factor scores whilst obtaining his high PageRank score. Obviously, these are two extremes, but we can use these to extrapolate the advantages and disadvantages of each approach:



It is clear that both strategies can and do work. Both strategies are using PageRank as part the mix of factors that will ultimately improve their ranking in the SERPS. Because there is such a mix, we can use them to different degrees, depending on the strategy that best suits your style. My personal strategy is to use a combination, but to save some of the ?on the page? factors for later, in case I need a quick boost if the competition heats up at a later time.