A couple questions about PR

[HDRules]

I am currently working on increasing my back links, having submitted to every "free" directory that was related to my site theme. I have also started working with reciprocal linking, and one reply I got brings up a couple questions.

My reciprocal link was refused, stating that my PR was too low for them to list. When I questioned this, the response was that if they (with a PR of 4) linked to me, it would hurt their page rank (my PR currently still shows 0). Is this true? What I have read on PR does not tell me that happens, but I am far from knowing. And if so, do I need to actively drop lower ranking links?

Also, is there any known correlation for the number of back links to your PR? While I know google does not show all back links, I tried the site referenced above, and it said the site had 30 links. I currently have 50 links, with about that many still in the submission process.

Thanks for any help

Motorcycle Rallies and Events

 

[ChrisHunt]

They're wrong. Read

http://www.webworkshop.net/pagerank.html

for an overview on how PR works. A page's PR is accumulated from inbound links, it can't be leeched away by linking to other sites. What is true is that they will be contributing more PR to you than you (currently) are to them (not that PR4 is anything special anyway).

Frankly, PR is one of those things that you can waste a lot of time obsessing about. If you think a link is of benefit to your visitors, include it. Then write to the linked-to site suggesting they link back.

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd