11 replies to this topic

[dudleypipe]

Hi All

I have a query regarding PageRank, but I seem to keep finding conflicting advice, so I was hoping that someone could clear it up once and for all!
(Please excuse my ignorance, I'm not quite as 'au fait' with SEO as some of you are :-)

I run an Amazon Webstore which creates search friendly URL's (on the fly) based on a product title. This means that if we change the product titles to get the correct keywords in, the URL is prone to change. The current format is www.ourdomain.ltd/shortened-product-title-with-duplicate-words-and-conjunctions-removed/dp/UniqueProductReferenceNumber

With this in mind, I was planning on creating backlinks to a more static version of the URL which doesn't have the keywords from the product title in it, so looks like this:
www.ourdomain.ltd/dp/UniqueProductReferenceNumber

My question is this: Do the SE's look at both of these URL's as different pages for the purposes of PR?

Kind Regards
Mark

[Jill]

My question is this: Do the SE's look at both of these URL's as different pages for the purposes of PR?

It has nothing to do with PR but yes they're different pages of dupe content as far as search engines are concerned.

[chrishirst]

PR is assigned to unique URLs that have links pointing to them.

[dudleypipe]

It has nothing to do with PR but yes they're different pages of dupe content as far as search engines are concerned.

Many thanks. I just wanted to establish if (as part of trying to increase PageRank) it mattered which version of the URL I linked to, and evidently it does.
If I choose to link to the longer URL, and then the product title changes (which in turn changes the URL) then will a 301 pass on that link juice?

Thanks for your help, much appreciated!

[Jill]

First, increasing PageRank is the wrong goal. You need to understand that before moving forward with anything else.

That said, 301 redirects will pass one url's link popularity to another's in most cases.

[dudleypipe]

First, increasing PageRank is the wrong goal. You need to understand that before moving forward with anything else.

Thank you Jill. My reason for increasing pagerank is not primarily to help achieve higher rankings within organic results. I've been speaking with someone who has done some pretty rigorous testing and PR has an impact within a different type of (primarily feed based) search results within Google.

[dudleypipe]

I just read Jill's page (thanks for creating that!) at http://www.highranki...o-questions-331 and saw the mention of canonicals, so watch the Matt Cutts video.

Amazon Webstore uses the rel=canonical element within its pages, so if (and thats a big if!) I've followed the video correctly, the canonical element works in a very similar way to a 301, and would likely pass over the link popularity to the specified URL; i.e.
if I create a link to mydomain.com/dp/12345 and that page has rel=canonical pointing to mydomain.com/example-url/dp/12345 then the latter would inherit all the link popularity for PR purposes anyway?

Edited by dudleypipe, 04 May 2012 - 06:52 AM.

[Jill]

Thank you Jill. My reason for increasing pagerank is not primarily to help achieve higher rankings within organic results. I've been speaking with someone who has done some pretty rigorous testing and PR has an impact within a different type of (primarily feed based) search results within Google.

It is absolutely the wrong goal.

if I create a link to mydomain.com/dp/12345 and that page has rel=canonical pointing to mydomain.com/example-url/dp/12345 then the latter would inherit all the link popularity for PR purposes anyway?

If the pages have the exact same content, then yes.

[dudleypipe]

Thanks Jill. My goal is to sell more, to make more money. Our website conversions are the best they've been, so now we're looking for more traffic.
The process getting more good quality links should help achieve our goal, no?

[Jill]

My goal is to sell more, to make more money.

Now you're talkin'!

The process getting more good quality links should help achieve our goal, no?

It can. But always remember your goal. It's not to increase PageRank (which you have no way of actually measuring). It's to make more sales first and foremost. Which means you need to get more visitors to your site who are looking for exactly what you offer and then convert them into customers. That has nothing to do with PageRank.

I'm only trying to drill this into your head because by having the wrong goal in mind it makes people do the wrong things when it comes to SEO. One might be able to easily increase their toolbar PageRank and see no more traffic and conversions from it, making it an exercise in futility.

[chrishirst]

The process getting more good quality links should help achieve our goal, no?

Welllll Actually.


Getting links that will send traffic DIRECTLY is far better than guessing which links are going to "improve rankings" so you can get more traffic.

Cut out the middle man!!

[dudleypipe]

Welllll Actually.


Getting links that will send traffic DIRECTLY is far better than guessing which links are going to "improve rankings" so you can get more traffic.

Cut out the middle man!!

Thanks Chris, another very valid point!