We all look at the little green bar to see what Page Rank a site has been assigned by Google (from 0-10). The higher the rank the more credibility the site has in the eyes of Google and to an extent its visitors.
It is common knowledge that Page Rank has little (or nothing) to do with where a site appears in the Google rankings, yet all site owners still want the credibility a high rank affords their site.
Historically Page Rank has been updated every three months, yet as of today (13th September 2007) the Page Rank Tool Bar hasn’t been updated since April, that’s 5 months.
Why does this mean it’s the end of Google Page Rank I hear you cry…
Personally, I don’t think we will see another update, however if we do, I think it will be the last one before Google do away with it.
The reason I am so certain Google will get rid of Page Rank is because it has become badly compromised, many site owners and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) companies have worked out how to artificially increase the rank of a website, totally undermining the value of the little green bar.
Furthermore, owners of sites with a good Page Rank have been making money by selling links to lower ranked sites (in lamens terms and amongst other things Page Rank is increased by having incoming links from higher ranked sites).
Additionally there have been lots of rumours (some coming out of Google themselves) that Page Rank has had it’s day, I have even read reports this week of large numbers of website’s Page Rank reducing down to zero over night.
Websites will still have a rank, we just won’t be able to see it, this will also put a stop to people who add comments on high ranked blogs and forums just to build links, come on, we’ve all done it!
I hope I am wrong, I think Page Rank is good fun and I was hoping to get at least a 4 out of 10 for this site at the next update.
But the research I have done tells me it isn’t going to happen…watch this space!
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For those of us who have been looking forward to the update, this is not good news unless they put in place some alternative way of ranking pages. Those of us who depend on the rank of the page for an income need to at least know one way or another. Sigh.
This is something that really bothers me, that some website is so powerful that people are actually practically holding their collective breath until the PR comes out again. BAH!! I’m in both camps here. I want the thing to just go away because I do not believe that any company should have this much power. On the other hand, I wish they would get the update over with because I need the higher rank I thought would be coming.
Thank you for at least addressing the issue. Hope we hear SOMETHING soon. This is ridiculous.
One thing for sure – is that regardless of whether or not people see the page rank – it is calculated and updated on a daily basis. Google just doesn’t release the data to others.
Traditionally the toolbar servers were updated every 3 months – as you mentioned.
Personally I don’t care if they remove it from the toolbar – so long as they don’t stop releasing the data for us to view using a different tool.
I think they might add it into the webmaster tools section, which would be better than not having it at all.
PS. Simon, how’d the TV interview go, u got any highlights for us?
The problem I have is I have a new web site and I,ve been waiting for a PR rateing so I can get someone to link to me. It is PR0 now.
People have short memories. Every time there’s a delay in the pagerank update people say the same things.
My guess is that the pagerank is simply delayed. Either it’s late just because it’s late, or perhaps Google is finally implementing some algorithms that devalue comment and forum links and penalize paid links.
[...] do not expect rhodilee.com to get any page rank yet but there have been rumors circulating around the internet saying that the April page rank update might be the last. Google is [...]
Darn.
I’m one of those newer blogs that hasn’t been ranked yet… and however inaccurate the rankings might be, I want to get rid of that dreaded Zero!
I hope if they’re thinking about killing it, they make that known publicly so that the last rankings aren’t perceived as being valid for all eternity.
I find enough to whine about without being a Zero for the rest of my blog life.
i think pagerank is important but not as much as it used to be, like you said people have fiured out ways to manipulate it so its more for peoples egos now to get good pr, i hope google get rid of it
[...] no more PageRank is a little far fetched. However, perhaps its something that shouldn’t be ignored? It has been reported by a few bloggers one of which is a new blogger who has pushed herself [...]
I agree with crabby mcslacker… who has a great name by the way.
This is BS if it’s true… I have a few advertisers lined up that want to put ads on my site once I hit a PR5. I’ve been a PR4 since April, but I’ve since linked to a lot of similar sites, and I’m expecting to be a PR5. Either way, I’d like to know where I stand so I can continue to make a living. Google looks selfish if they scrap PR. Who cares if people manipulate it? What does that matter? Ugh.
I competely agree. Google PR is complete BS. It doesnt help anything other than being a green bar at the top.
Is there any update on this. Is PR now gone as I still see it talked abount in terms of SEO. Many thanks.
Google has become the far most utilized search engine worldwide. For the purpose of better search results and especially to make search engines resistant against automatically generated web pages based upon the analysis of content specific ranking criteria (doorway pages), the concept of link popularity was developed.
There is no doubt that within the past years most likely many changes, adjustments and modifications regarding the ranking methods of Google have taken place, but PageRank was absolutely crucial for Google’s success, so that at least the fundamental concept behind PageRank should still be constitutive.
i’m still PR0 at this time
link popularity is very important in order for your website to get higher up in the search results page of any search engine.-,’