Jul
28Top link taking an unfair proportion of PR?
Tags : SEO, To Do Posted in: Search Engine Optimisation
On SoftTester, one of the highest PR inner pages is http://www.softtester.com/keywords-a.shtml. Strangely this page is almost the first link on every page, i.e. the link nearest the top of the page. I remember reading a while ago that the position of links on pages can influence PR pass through. I wonder if this is happening on SoftTester?
The second highest link is the KMF ad. Does this get an unfair kick of PR?
I wonder if SERPs would improve if the “Search by Keyword” phrase wasn’t a link? could it be changed to a radio button or checkbox that is actioned only when the Search button is pressed? Alternatively, could the Search group of controls, or even just the Search by Keywords link, be moved below the main category links?
Unless the blog is drawing a significant amount of traffic I’d be tempted to move that lower down the page too - perhaps to the footer.
I’d also nofollow the Advanced link in the Search group of controls. The page it links to is a bit of a dead end in terms of spreading PR back through Softtester.
by ML
I guess it must be happening.
Unfair ?
The idea behind the category pages was to do exactly that, provide relevant keyword’d pages.
I don’t really understand when you say… “I wonder if SERPs would improve…”
What bad is happening ?
Blog, I’m not really sure that authors using the blog would work out. If it really took off, I can see it would be open to abuse and an admin nightmare. I guess it can be moved, although that footer bar is getting rather squashed.
I will nofollow the advanced, but I’ll wait to see how are discussion flows and do all the work at once.
It not that it’s bad BUT if most PR is being passed to the topmost links then all programs beginning with a and KMF are getting proportionally more of of the PR. PR might spread better if the links were nofollow or rearranged. Other pages might then do a bit better in searches.
I understand what you mean about the footer. You could just include some of the links, e.g. the blog, in a block below the ads.
I like this blog and think we should keep it up. It’s a pity it’s PR 0 (and a bit mystifying) but I like posting.