First link count - passing of pagerank

[seoug_2005]

I am asking this question after reading similar post. My question is does the first link count rule - Only the first link is counted, if we point to same page with two different anchor texts - applies to anchor text only. Does the PR is passed to the second link ?

[Theo-NL]

I'm pretty sure it only applies to anchor text. PR will be evenly split over the links you put on a page (both internal and external), where not even a rel="nofollow" will change the distribution of linkjuice that a link will pass.

[CPLDistribution]

There is a recent discussion on this on the webmaster world forums that might be worth checking out:

http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4305209.htm

A few posters are claiming that they have tested it and the second link does not pass link juice.

[Dan-Petrovic]

Interesting question. In theory PageRank splits up evenly across all links and in the case of two links it merges back into the same page (minus the dampening factor). It would make an interesting experiment if you were to take two pages and from each link to one of the two pages via 1 and 10 links respectively. End result? See if one ranks better due to dampening factor in the original PageRank formula.

Relevant mathematical analysis:
http://www.bcamath.org/documentos_public/archivos/actividades/TalkBCAM20090908KA.pdf

[seoug_2005]

Will rel="nofollow" pass page rank to the target link ?

[Dan-Petrovic]

Nope. (according to Google)

[KatMouse]

Loved this article on the subject. Check out the hashtag tip. http://www.seo.com/blog/testing-link-priority-rule/