Recently, a new technique of faking the PageRank number of a web site has become popular. For example, a rather dubious adult web site managed to get a PageRank of 10.

How did this web site get this high PageRank number?

The web sites used a relatively simple trick. A known loophole in the Google algorithm is that a web page that redirects to another web page will get the PageRank number of the redirected web page.

A web page that redirects to Google.com will get a PageRank of 10 because web surfers that go to the redirection page will actually land on Google.com which has a PageRank of 10.

To get a high PageRank number, a web site must just redirect to Google.com (or another page with a high PageRank) when the Google spider visits the site. This is a technique called cloaking.

Does this technique help my rankings on Google?

No, it doesn't. It doesn't help your web site rankings at all. Actually, it prevents your web site from showing up in Google because Google thinks that the content of the redirected web site is the content of your site. The only effect on your web site is that the green PageRank bar will be longer.

What does this mean to your web site?

Don't try to get links (or even buy them) from other web sites just because these web sites have a high PageRank. PageRank numbers can be faked and if a web site is not related to your site, it doesn't make sense if that web site links to you.

It's better to focus on links from web site that are related to yours. Links from related sites will increase your search engine rankings and you'll get targeted visitors from these sites. Focus on web surfers, not on search engines.