link building tips

When Link Building Don’t
be Duped by the PR Fallacy

So I just laid out the parameters I used for this link building study.

Now before you jump down my throat wailing and weeping about how non representative Alexa is of traffic flows, let me say I know.

And I agree.

But as long as you're comparing apples with apples, that is using the same flawed yardstick to compare with, your conclusions should still be valid.

Or something close enough to valid for government work or link building studies like this.

Anyway, here's the study:

CLOTHING		Visitors	Alexa
www.onlygloves.com	PR 6	24,700	476,982
www.dressesonline.com	PR 4	50,100	230,311
WEIGHTLOSS
www.thecolumn.org	PR 5	46,700	250,148
www.weightlossforgood.co.uk	PR 4	120,200	75,903
FURNITURE
www.dorm-room-furniture.com	PR 5	18,700	592,142
www.rwcatalog.com	PR 4	42,800	276,338
INTERNET
www.audiovideoweb.com	PR 6	78,000	133,337
www.bearzweb.com	PR 5	57,400	195,472
www.traffic-test-tube.com	PR 4	125,200	71,924
HOME IMPROVEMENT
www.homebuildingpitfalls.com	PR 6	25,000	472,708
www.hammerzone.com	PR 5	76,500	136,691
www.naturalhandyman.com	PR 4	79,300	130,417
TOYS
www.barrysbeanies.com	PR 4	47,300	246,337
www.checkerberries.com	PR 4	13,700	714,219

First surprise was how varied the visitor counts are. I guess I should have expected that. But I still found it interesting how much the numbers differ from site to site, niche to niche. Despite the site's link page PR.

That suggests maybe a sound link building strategy would be to factor in a niche's overall popularity before approaching webmaster one to swap links. Since it doesn't take any more effort to send your email to a more traffic laden niche with solid PR than one less so.

Second the results clearly show both metrics reveal the same fact. The PR Fallacy is alive and well. That is pursuing PR to boost web site popularity at the expense of all else is NOT always your best move. At least not if getting more traffic is one of your goals.

Leading me to conclude that when engaged in a link building campaign you can't blindly focus on PR and blisfully ignore other factors.

Because there are two reasons to trade links, remember? One for the PR boost. And two for the traffic boost. Ideally you'd like to think you're hooking up with sites that will provide both. But more often than not you're probably getting one or the other.

That's why you want to go after high quality links. Not just links high in PR. Some will give you a traffic boost. Others a PR boost. And the special ones will do both.

Still I think it's safe to say that PR alone is not a perfect indicator of traffic potential. While you'd think that PR and traffic would go hand in hand, from these examples that's evidently NOT the case.

Besides, it may simply mean one webmaster is better at getting links than another.

So when in link building mode to boost your web site popularity, don't fall for the PR Fallacy. High PR is not a guarantee of high traffic. Making the pursuit of links solely from high PR sites not necessarily your smartest strategy.