Link Exchange Problems / Fake Page Rank
We have all received e-mails regarding Link Exchanges. One of the things you should be aware of is Fake Page Ranking. When a web master is offering an exchange with a site that has significantly more page rank than your site or a three way link exchange where the 3rd site has a very high pr this should raise a flag for you to check if the pr is real.
Spotting a possible fake page-rank
There are two possible indicators that show google page-rank may not be valid. One is when a page shows a high page-rank in online tools but does not have any or very few backlinks in google. For example a website claims to have a page-rank of 7, but when you check it with the previously mentioned tool it shows none or very few backlinks (50 is very low for a website of PR7).
How fake page ranks can be done
All a web master has to do in order to fake a page-rank is use a redirect for their domain and point it to a high page-rank domain. In the Google toolbar it will show the PR of the page it was pointed to.
Detecting a fake Page Rank
The quickest way to detect a fake PR is fairly simple. If you think that a site is showing a fake PR, then simply take a look at Googles cache snap shot of the page. Make sure you check both instances, with and without the www prefix. If the cache page is a different Website (url) then the website has a fake page rank.
How to check Google's cached snapshot of a page
1. You can download Google toolbar and there is a page rank, cache and backward link tool in the browser top menu bar. Click on the page rank tool arrow and a drop down menu will appear. The first item in the menu is the "cached snapshot of a page", this is where you can check to see if the site is being redirecting to another site (This is "Fake Page Rank").
2. Just do a Google search on the site that you want to check. At the bottom of the listing will be a "Cached" button, click on it, to check that the snapshot of the page is the same as the site you are checking.
Example: -http://Studio25n.com - Cached - Similar
