Traffic is a signficant variable in PageRank

[diogenes]

My experience so far leads me to the following conclusion: traffic is an important variable in determining PageRank. Anyone dispute this?

[fgs]

well usually getting traffic means that you also have links pointing to your site. Not sure if there is a site with massive traffic that is just out there on its own, unless of course advertising campaigns.

Also, it could be like one of my sites pr0, 4000 uniques, but its not really true pr since it used to be pr5 and got banned by google.

[theoverpass]

If anything I would say it's the other way around, pagerank leads to traffic, rather than traffic leads to pagerank.

[GuyFromChicago]

My experience so far leads me to the following conclusion: traffic is an important variable in determining PageRank. Anyone dispute this?

Traffic has nothing to do with PR and vice-versa.

[Cristian Mezei]

Chicago PD is alywas right.

[fsmedia]

Traffic has nothing to do with PR and vice-versa.

I'm not so sure of that statement. I've gained A LOT of traffic because of my pagerank. If my Pagerank hadn't been so high, I wouldn't rank nearly as well on Google and I wouldn't be visited nearly as many times. I do agree that Pagerank is not based on traffic, but I think pagerank helps influence traffic quite a bit. While MSN and other search engines do not depend on Pagerank like Google does, Pagerank helps in SERPs for sites/pages which generate the traffic through that organic search ranking.

[GuyFromChicago]

I'm not so sure of that statement. I've gained A LOT of traffic because of my pagerank.

I'm talking toolbar PR. Of course there's a "page rank" calculation used in determining the serps but it's not something any webmaster or person outside of Google has access too. Everytime someone asks the "PR influences traffic?" question they are talking about toolbar PR.

Case in point, I have multiple sites with a toolbar PR 0 that get hundreds and hundreds of visitors a day from the organic serps.

[Cristian Mezei]

Fsmedia, i think what he tried to say, is that there is no technical correlation between Pagerank and traffic. Pagerank does not depend or get calculated by traffic, or vice-versa.

[mdvaldosta]

Fsmedia, i think what he tried to say, is that there is no technical correlation between Pagerank and traffic. Pagerank does not depend or get calculated by traffic, or vice-versa.

I would agree also. Having high traffic may be due to many backlinks and good serps. Of course, more backlinks = more pr.

Go get a brand new or old and dead site, get one PR9 backlink and see what kinda traffic you get from it. You'll figure it out then.

[fsmedia]

I agree with that. It's more of a social correlation rather than a technical correlation. The higher up in SERPs you are, the more likely you are to get 'hit'. But again you both are correct in that aspect, there is no direct correlation.

[GuyFromChicago]

I love it when we all agree:)

Bookmark this thread becuase it doesn't happen that often!:D

[fsmedia]

Haha, it was a mutual inclusional agreement where all parties agreed to similar yet different terms on the same basis. :D

[Cristian Mezei]

Bookmark this thread becuase it doesn't happen that often!:D

Can someone make a script, so that all the nice threads get bookmarked in every visitor's bookmarks ? :D

[diogenes]

I think there is some confusion here by my use of the work PageRank. I'm not talking about the 'tool bar' results. I am talking about the position you attain on the SERP.

My belief is that Google looks to see how much traffic you are getting (whereever it is that they place you) and then if your 'doing well' you can get advanced. I've seen it in Adwords. They don't say its part of their 'quality' criterion, but it is.

I also think its part of their positioning on the SERP. I agree its a little like a cat chasing its tail. The higher your position, up to a point, the more traffic you get. But at some point you end up with higher traffic sites above you and lower below.

Now that's a little simplistic because it is only one factor. Links is another, keyword score another and God only knows what else.

I do not believe even with high link popularity, good keyword 'score' and not much traffic (because your message doesn't look all the relevant), that you will see yourself high on the Results page.

Does this help with the confusion. The word PageRank refers to two things that are not the same.

[GuyFromChicago]

I think there is some confusion here by my use of the work PageRank. I'm not talking about the 'tool bar' results. I am talking about the position you attain on the SERP.

Does this help with the confusion. The word PageRank refers to two things that are not the same.

No, not at all. If you're using the term the pagerank as a synonym for search results placement....well...that's just not the right terminology.

Define pagerank (http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-25,GGLG:en&oi=defmore&defl=en&q=define:PageRank).

That's the PR we were talking about.

Traffic (high or low) does not effect your pagerank, at all.

[Perrow]

My belief is that Google looks to see how much traffic you are getting (whereever it is that they place you) and then if your 'doing well' you can get advanced.
But how would they know if my site didn't have adsense on them? But, yes sites higher in the serps usually have more traffic, though that's because they're high in the serps ;)

[Brad Callen]

Also what would stop anyone from buying mass ammounts of traffic from sources. The theroy is very flawed.

But an interesting one none the less.

Brad

[jovigirl]

Once not so long ago I had a parked domain that got a few hits a day and happened to be PR6 for a couple of months.
Now it's back to N/A

[SiCK]

But how would they know if my site didn't have adsense on them? But, yes sites higher in the serps usually have more traffic, though that's because they're high in the serps ;)

The google toolbar ...

[toby]

i believe in good traffic bring up google toolbar PR :)

[GuyFromChicago]

i believe in good traffic bring up google toolbar PR :)

You should probably try reading this thread then.

[dazzlindonna]

I've commented before on my blog about traffic helping with SERPs (not PageRank). I have seasonal sites, so it is fairly easy for me to watch each one's rise and fall. For those sites that rank well in Yahoo and MSN, but not in Google, the pattern gets clearer and clearer to me. When the season begins, I begin getting traffic from Yahoo and MSN rankings. As this traffic climbs, and reaches a certain point, BAM! Google rankings appear. Once the season is over, and the traffic declines, BAM! Google rankings disappear. And the cycle begins again the next season. Traffic may only be one factor in the rankings, so if everyone has consistent traffic, they may not notice any changes. But for sites like mine, that have significant peaks and valleys in traffic, it is easy to see.

[qwestcommunications]

I would agree also. Having high traffic may be due to many backlinks and good serps. Of course, more backlinks = more pr.

Go get a brand new or old and dead site, get one PR9 backlink and see what kinda traffic you get from it. You'll figure it out then.
Would these be direct traffic from the PR9 site or will influence the serps so much as to bring substantially more traffic as a result of the PR9 backlink?

[enQuira]

traffic is a consequence not a factor in PR, and not in the toolbar PR but the internal PR. The one I call dynamic PR http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=56717

[GuyFromChicago]

I've commented before on my blog about traffic helping with SERPs (not PageRank). I have seasonal sites, so it is fairly easy for me to watch each one's rise and fall. For those sites that rank well in Yahoo and MSN, but not in Google, the pattern gets clearer and clearer to me. When the season begins, I begin getting traffic from Yahoo and MSN rankings. As this traffic climbs, and reaches a certain point, BAM! Google rankings appear. Once the season is over, and the traffic declines, BAM! Google rankings disappear. And the cycle begins again the next season. Traffic may only be one factor in the rankings, so if everyone has consistent traffic, they may not notice any changes. But for sites like mine, that have significant peaks and valleys in traffic, it is easy to see.

Interesting.

If traffic is a factor in rankings (I've never seen any conclusive evidence that it is at this time) how would paid traffic fit into the mix? I worked on a site last year that went from 0 visitors in September to over a million visitors per month for the 4th quarter. Those millions of visitors had no impact on the organic rankings at all.

Thoughts?

[Cristian Mezei]

It's been known for so long, that Google counts clicks (the link don't appear as : www.domain.com , but with many parameters in the link) for the links that appear in search results. Not all the time, but i have seen this myself.

So theoreticly they know how many users clicked to get to your website, and so on.

This is the only not so transparent way, for them to know how much traffic a website has.

The counting of clicks, adsense, analytics and the toolbar are just some of the ways they might know the traffic.

[Perrow]

So theoreticly they know how many users clicked to get to your website, and so on.
And when was the last time you clicked a link on G to get to DP ;)

[Cristian Mezei]

And when was the last time you clicked a link on G to get to DP ;)

LOL .. today :D

DP is all over Google.

[sachin410]

Google's main aim to is show most relevant results first.

If a site abc.com is getting 100 times more traffic than xyz.com , it doesnt mean abc.com should be more relevant to user queries.

However if in search results for a particular query, people repeatedly give preference to xyz.com over abc.com and visit xyz.com , it can be concluded that xyz.com is more relevant to abc.com for that particular query.

My opinion is traffic coming from Google ( and not total traffic) may affect SERPs for certain keywords.

From Google's Patent Application (http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=20050071741)



15. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more types of history data includes information relating to how often the document is selected when the document is included in a set of search results; and wherein the generating a score includes: determining an extent to which the document is selected over time when the document is included in a set of search results, and scoring the document based, at least in part, on the extent to which the document is selected over time when the document is included in the set of search results.

[dreamedia]

Here is the proof that theres no major relationship between PR and Traffic...


I've got a site thats been PR6 for over 6 months & it gets less than 100 uniques/day. But boy, do i get hammered by the bots.