We all know that reciprocal, although not preferred over 3-way linking, is a great way to increase backlinks to a site. Here is the question: There are 2 sites, say a PR6 page each that want to exchange links. So site A(PR6) links to site B's Homepage. Site B homepage however will link to an internal page (PR0) within site A. Do You feel that site B will loose PR as they are linking to a PR0 page? I say no way, but a few have been saying otherswise. Lets hear what you think.
You dont lost PR by linking to a PR0 page. This is how it is thought that you lose PR: Site A PR4 page links to site B page(any page) Site B PR1 page links to site A page(any page) Site A is losing out on the trade - so it is thought. I dont completely subsribe to this theory. It may be true but i generally trade links with any site that is indexed by G and is relevant to my site. Whether the PR theory is correct or not - you may still gain traffic from people actually clicking on the link.
Each page has a set amount of PR it can pass. Whether that PR is divided between 2 or 100 links, it have absolutely no affect on the PR of the page giving the link. The more links outgoing, the less PR each page will receive. It can be better to get a PR3 link from a page with a couple of links than a link on a PR6 page with a 100 links. Everything else being equal, a PR6 site trading a link with a PR1 is giving better than they are getting (for PR), but they aren't losing PR. Everytime you add an outgoing link, the value of the PR it is passing per link decreases (the sum of all never changes), so many webmasters tend to try and trade higher PR links for the same. Some directories and sites that, in the eyes of google, are in the business of selling PR can have their PR set to zero, but that is something completely different.
Exactly right. Thanks, mjewel. There is an amazing amount of superstitious thinking, rumours, mythology, and downright misinformation about Google and PageRank floating around forums - it's nice to see posts correcting some of it periodically.
I agree with you. I think what you are getting at is the question, does linking out to authority sites help with rankings? Am I wrong in assuming that?
How the hell did you get that from ServerUnions post? But, to address the question, I haven't seen anything that would support such a belief, have you?
Well ServerUnion is asking if linking out to PR0 sites has any effect on rankings. I am just reversing the situation and asking if linking out to higher pagerank sites (authority sites) plays any role in rankings. I don't have enough experience on this issue to say anything on it. I hope ServerUnion doesn't mind me putting a spin on the question All I gotta say with regard to the initial question, link out to sites keeping your users in mind, regardless of the pagerank of the site. That in mind, make sure the site isn't blacklisted and you should be sweet.
No I have not, nor anyone I have talked to. Just had a linking partner not allow me to get an internal link to a new page, although cached, has no PR.