Google: PageRank Drain is Real

This is hardly new news, just a new look at the Webmasters’ SEO section at Google. As any of you that follow PageRank literature know, there is a debate amongst SEOs as to whether outlinking “drains” PageRank. The basic idea is covered here.

One side argues that in Google’s white paper Google clearly sets the foundation for PageRank drain. The other side aruges that linking is part of the Web and to penalize for outlinking is absurd. (Note: PageRank drain is considered to be sitewide, not on a page by page basis.)

But in the second section at the bottom of the Google SEO page, Google states that “doorway pages often contain hidden links to the SEO’s other clients as well. Such doorway pages drain away the link popularity of a site and route it to the SEO and its other clients, which may include sites with unsavory or illegal content.”

Looks like an admission of some sort of PageRank drain to me. However, it is important to note that they use the phrase “link popularity.” Can outlinking really reduce your backlinks, pretty much the only measure of link pop? Doubtful, but it’s interesting, nonetheless.

But before you run off to encode all your links, note that GoogleGuy has gone on record stating that it is rather easy to spot a domain hoarding PageRank. I believe him. It would be rather easy to spot a site with a very low (none?) outlink count and a huge backlink count. It just doesn’t look natural.