Using PageRank decay in SEO is one of the simplest concepts that also creates some of the greatest results.
Using it properly, you can:
- Boost the rankings of SEO pages specifically targeting people looking to purchase.
- Strengthen the rankings of related underperforming pages.
- Get more results for less work.
First, some fundamental concepts:
Backlinks
A backlink is when one site links to your site.
It’s kind of seen like a vote of authority.
The more backlinks a site has, the more its vote to your site matters.
A backlink from the Guardian gives your site more authority than a backlink from a small blog that hasn’t invested much into marketing.
Backlinks pass authority through link juice, which is technically called PageRank.
PageRank Decay
The authority vote of a backlink doesn’t flow to your whole site evenly – it actually decays with each click AND is weakened depending on how many links are on a page.
Extremely oversimplified rule of thumb:
- Each click in your site from the backlink location retains 85% of the remaining authority. If a backlink from the Guardian goes to yoursite.com/new-shoes and yoursite.com/new-shoes also links to the homepage (yoursite.com), the homepage gets 85% of the original link juice to yoursite.com/new-shoes.
- Link juice is also diluted with how many internal links are on your page. If yoursite.com/new-shoes has 10 internal links on it, each page being linked to receives 10% of the link juice, which then gets further weakened by the decay.
- All of this compounds.
Authority / link juice / PageRank are used interchangeably.
Again, this is extremely oversimplified – there are other variables like where on the page the internal links appear, are they in the footer/header, do they use nofollow, etc.
Topical Authority
Backlinks don’t just pass raw authority – they pass authority informed by the language around the backlink.
This language + authority can make a page more authoritative in a particular topic = topical authority.
Here are external factors that influence topical authority:
- The language directly over the backlink (called anchor text). “New luxury sneakers” gives more topical authority than “here.”
- The language directly surrounding the backlink.
- The topic of the page that the backlink is on.
- The niche of the site that the backlink is on.
Unlinked brand mentions can also be beneficial for increasing authority in your topic, though not as beneficial as brand mentions that contain backlinks.
Subfolders
yoursite.com = your root domain
yoursite.com/new-shoes/ = a subfolder on your root domain
yoursite.com/new-shoes/blue-luxury-sneakers = a slug within your subfolder on your root domain
Boost the rankings of SEO pages specifically targeting people looking to purchase
Let’s say you’re a services business.
You’ve identified lots of keywords where people are high-intent.
Keywords like:
- same day water heater replacement
- emergency water heater repair
- water heater installation service
- tankless water heater installation
- water heater leak repair
These are keywords that will make you MONEY.
Not blog keywords like:
- how does a water heater work
- what size water heater do i need
- tankless vs traditional water heater
- average water heater lifespan
- what causes water heater leaks
Let’s also say your brand name is HotFlow Plumbing.
You have your money keywords on a services subfolder.
hotflowplumbing.com/services 👇
hotflowplumbing.com/services/same-day-water-heater-replacement
hotflowplumbing.com/services/emergency-water-heater-repair
hotflowplumbing.com/services/water-heater-installation
hotflowplumbing.com/services/tankless-water-heater-installation
hotflowplumbing.com/services/water-heater-leak-replacement
This subfolder /services/ says these are services that you offer.
Now you want to boost the rankings of these pages that specifically bring you money.
Do you try to get backlinks to your homepage? It will be okay, but it’s not as ideal due to decay and dilution.
Do you try to get backlinks to your blog? Also not as ideal.
How about building backlinks specifically to hotflowplumbing.com/services/ ?
🎯 This maximizes the authority that each money-page gets, giving you more clicks on Google for pages that bring clients.
Strengthen the rankings of related underperforming pages
What if HotFlow Plumbing also sells plumbing products?
You have hotflowplumbing.com/products/
Let’s say the pages in /services/ and in /blog/ are ranking well BUT the pages in /products/ are not ranking well.
The solution – get backlinks directly to hotflowplumbing.com/products/
Make sure the language emphasizes products, as well.
Let’s say you start going on podcasts using aipodcastmatcher.com to get backlinks – this is something I’ve done – when each podcast gives you a backlink, it uses this language:
HotFlow Plumbing’s high-performance plumbing products are built for long-term reliability – trusted by DIY homeowners and pros alike. Shop the lineup at hotflowplumbing.com/products/, and if you need hands-on help, HotFlow Plumbing also offers fast services like same-day water heater replacement, emergency repairs, and tankless installation.
Now you’re driving not just authority, but topical authority, for the product pages within hotflowplumbing.com/products/, which boosts all their rankings for more keywords that bring PURCHASES.
Get more results for less work
Instead of building links to just the homepage, you are able to surgically insert authority into pages that:
- Bring sales
- Need extra topical authority because they’re underperforming
Building links to just the homepage = more work
Surgically building links to the subfolders that matter = less work
Go deeper
If you’d like to go really deep into this, including:
- Exact templates for subfolder pages, single product/service/SaaS pages, multiple product pages
- How to find purchase/use-intent keywords
- The most impactful way to do an SEO site audit
- My favorite ways to build backlinks that actually move the needle
- Lots of case studies
- How to differentiate your pages within Google
- SEO that’s in line with Google Updates, so you rank #1 for your target keywords for YEARS
- Purchase-intent SEO that gets surfaced in large language models
- And lots more…
This is exactly what my SEO course, Compact Keywords, teaches.
The course is 13.5 hours deep with many exact templates, screen share tutorials of me doing SEO, and examples in SaaS, products, and services.
You can get the course at https://edwardsturm.com/compact-keywords/
