Google PageRank Hoarding Doesn't Pay - Don't Hoard your PageRank
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Because of the fears of PageRank leakage, many webmasters are tempted to lock up their PageRank and not pass any along to other sites. In most cases to "preserve" PageRank, JavaScript and various redirects are used in an attempt to thwart the Google spider from crawling and the appropriate PageRank being assigned. The question arises as to the wisdom of that concept.
Rumors abound that Google will begin to target sites that fail to pass along PageRank. The main targets will be sites that employ JavaScript links in an attempt to thwart the Googlebot spider. Because of the inability of PageRank to be passed along by a JavaScript link, many PageRank misers were using them to prevent leakage. Google has apparently devised a way to crawl those Java links and to pass the PageRank along as a result.
In any case, the debate over passing along PageRank centers around whether or not leakage in fact takes place. If PageRank is lost, the next question would be the amount that is leaked away. Since web pages, in general, tend to rise in PageRank over time, the amount of leakage is probably heavily outweighed by the amount flowing into the page. Should that be the case, steps to stem the flow of PageRank would be counterproductive.
The tradeoff from not passing along PageRank includes potential loss of future hub and authority status. It also could result in Google treating your site in a negative way. There may be an accompanying loss of positioning in the SERPs as well. The saving of PageRank could in fact be false economy. The overall loss could certainly outweigh the limited benefit.
Next: Benefits of Sharing the PageRank Wealth >>
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