Google has removed it’s PageRank from Webmaster Tools and there’s some discussion about it lately, along with a lot of rumors and exaggerations but who knows what’s going on? Google hasn’t always been the most forthright company. In the spirit of ‘That’s Right, I Said It‘ attitude I thought I’d share my thoughts with the three people that read the nonsense I write.
In the Webmaster Central Help forum a Google employee said, “We’ve been telling people for a long time that they shouldn’t focus on PageRank so much; many site owners seem to think it’s the most important metric for them to track, which is simply not true. We removed it because we felt it was silly to tell people not to think about it, but then to show them the data, implying that they should look at it. 
“
Now that’s just fine, Google wants to keep and use pagerank but we “shouldn’t focus on PageRank so much“. I agree with Extreme John’s statement last month, “Page Rank is an important factor when it comes to how other bloggers and even investors view your blog“. [See How to Check Your Google Page Rank]
When deciding where we want backlinks PageRank is a quick and easy way to get an idea of the authority, in Google’s eyes anyway, that the site has. When we are determining which keywords to use and how the competition looks with those keywords we use PageRank. Sure, Google PR isn’t the be-all end-all ranking tool and no one should be obsessed with it but I don’t see why it should be ignored. Personally I prefer Alexa rank over PR anytime, Alexa gives us an idea of traffic, not just how good someone is at SEO.
When Google changes or updates the PageRank Algorithm some will be happy and many will be disappointed. Most, I think, couldn’t care less. And changes there will be, you can always count on that. Getting obsessed with it is setting yourself up for certain disappointment. Look at the list of sites that lost significant PR exactly two years ago: Google Changing the PageRank Algorithm? In fact, ExtremeEzine.com had a PageRank of 05/10 and I would love to see it there again. It’s a “status” thing, sure, but it’s more than that. It’s a measurement of success to many sites, webmasters and internet savvy geeks like me. Just like money is, like it or not – agree with it or not. If you can advertise on one of two related and relevant sites for the same price,where are you going to put your money? The one with zero PR or the one with a five? Case closed!
I post and comment without a single thought about PageRank and it probably shows. I had no idea what this site’s PR was until I checked seconds ago. I really don’t care, it’s a personal blog. I use this site as self therapy and to show off how smart i is, really. If I was making money from this site it would be a different story. I want traffic and PageRank on sites I’m feeding my family from, especially if I’m selling ad spots on the site.
My conclusion? Google spent all that time developing a popular system while saying they don’t want it to be popular. Why did they even make it publicly visible? They hide everything else like it was National Security or something. Now, to prove their point, they have removed it from one of their products. Big deal! Ever hear the term ‘you made your bed now lay in it‘? If they don’t want it, move over; I’ll gladly lay in it! For a company that earned revenue of $5.94 billion last quarter they sure seem dumb sometimes.
That’s Right, I Said It now you do your part and Speak You Mind!
Tags: commentary, I said It!, That's Right, That's Right I Said It
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For a blogger like me whose blog doesn’t have any PR to brag about (well at least a subdomain of my main blog is PR 1), I can not really care much about it, or care about how Google changes its algorithm at their whim and fancy. But had I a site of high PR, I’d certainly be raving mad at each algorithm change especially if the resulting change brings my PR down to an ‘ignorable’ level.
The way they’re trying to downplay the importance of their own PR feature tells me that they are probably hiding some big bug in there that they’re still trying to fix even now. I hear that PR changes occur every 3 months or so. Yet I often wonder how some new (just created) blogs get to jump to PR 3 in less than 3 months.
Hi there Brian, it’s been awhile since I last visited your blogs/sites. I’m now doing the rounds of my favorite blogs.
James Moralde´s last blog ..My Western Digital External USB Hard Drive
Nice to see you again James. I think you are right, Google’s not as perfect as they seem. I just posted about Blog Directories on my main blog yesterday and I mentioned BlogRush still has a PageRank of 4 and the site has been shut down for a year. So much for regular updates to maintain PR. I guess that doesn’t mean they still come up in the SERPs, I’m not sure.
Brian Hawkins´s last blog ..Blog Directories – Can We Live Without Them?
If you saw my comment over at Extreme John’s you will know a bit how I feel about page rank.
I don’t remember when the last Page rank was updated on the toolbars but, we know the rank it shows is OLD. Even when they they update it, it is out dated.
I also know that we have pages that have 0 PR and rank in the top for certain phrases.
I have also been learning that Cache Date is VERY important when building or buying backlinks so, keep that in mind & don’t just rely on Page rank to be your guide.
I do NOT care what anyone’s Alexa rank is. Alexa can be gamed WAAAAY to easy. I just posted that over at the Guild a day or so ago. (I got the Alexa post idea from reading Brian’s thoughts. That was until he started wrapping foil around his head & blocked the signals!)
Ok, I won’t go on a huge rant………Yet!
Sheryl´s last blog ..How to Find Web Page Cache Date
Actually I do care about Google Page Rank, because advertisers never comes when you are have a low PR! and also to submit your blog on the pay to reviews websites, they simply will not accept the blog to be added to their system!
I think no matter what happen with PR thing, advertisers will never stop using it as a way to measure websites!
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Thank you for the link luv Brian I appreciate it!
In the sense of worrying about Google Page Rank, I really couldn’t care less.
In the sense of getting together with others that want to talk about it, I would have been much more excited if they pulled the plug on it with me having a Page Rank of 5
Extreme John´s last blog ..Best Tanning Salon in Florida
@Sheryl I’m going to have to find that comment over at Extreme John’s. Building these niche sites is putting my behind.
@Hesham It’s true Hesham, advertisers love that PR.
@Extreme John I don’t think they’ll pull the plug on it but who knows, it would be easier to decipher the tax code then understanding how Google thinks.
Brian Hawkins´s last blog ..Blog Directories – Can We Live Without Them?
I’m back here too, woot!
Missed ya bud.
Dennis Edell´s last blog ..What I’m Doing – What You Should Expect In The Very Near Future.
Good to have you back man, It’s not been the same without you. It’s like one of the chain links broke
[...] Page Rank Removed from Webmaster Tools, Do you Care? [...]
Though Google tends to help the online publishers to be little relax, but I think this should not be the way of relaxing when PR is still considered as very vital parameter for judgement by advertisors, website & blog visitors and even Google itself to judge the most relevancy of a page while displaying them in search result.
Though we can easily check it from our browser but it really hurts when we have to click every page of our site to check out whether we have get any PR for any page or not. But when it was in webmaster tools, we can have easily get the result about which page out of the lots of them present in our site has performed well in respect of getting PR.
Still Google is a monster and may be they are right.
I agree Amit, except for them being monster and may be right. Recent history is showing us the the biggest companies make the dumbest business decisions.
Brian Hawkins´s last blog ..Interview With Toilets.com Founder Earl Braxton – The Don of Porta John®
Amit – Of course I can’t remember them now that i need them, but there are sites out there where you can check every page PR in one spot.
Dennis Edell´s last blog ..I Want You To Review Me. Part 1
Denis – It is quite true that we can check our page rank at lots of other sites available online today. This is what we can call as alternative medecine –ha..ha..ha.
I just don’t want to under-estimate these sites. Most of them are no doubt is a very good and responsive in preforming their job and providing information about PR as well. But its just like leaving an expert doctor and finding some quack to get remedy.
Afterall PR is the concept of Google and whats more reward than to hear about from their own mouth.
Anyways, thnkx for suggestion and I am following your instructions.
Big Blog Academy´s last blog ..Tweet and retweet your blog using TweetMeme
Amit – there are two types of PR, inner PR which we bloggers know very little about is the important one. Then there’s the toolbar PR, the one we’re discussing here if I’m not mistaken…Google themselves has said not to worry too much about it, it don’t mean much at all.
Dennis Edell´s last blog ..I Want You To Review Me. Part 1
Denis – Thnks for responding. Though it is better to follow the advise of monster Google but its not worth to leave it. Because there is little difference between “not to worry too much” and “not to worry at all”.
Actually I completely agree with you, but I would be little happy if all the inner page PRs of a site would get displayed on a single page from some reliable sourse.
I think this will help we publishers in two ways
1. – Just prevent our time from spending on searching our PR status.
2.- Prevent AdSense users from creating unnecessary page impressions, which hurts both in terms of earning and is wrong as per Google AsSense TOS.
Anyways I will follow your suggestion too about not to get much worry about PR.
Big Blog Academy´s last blog ..Common SEO mistakes are Image optimization mistakes
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