Page Rank Discussion Never Ceases to Amaze Me
Why Must we Continue to Perpetuate the Page Rank Myth
I guess I should not be surprised after all of these years but I still get a chuckle out of all of the Page Rank update talk when changes are being seen. I mean, back in the day there was some reason to get excited or dejected when the green pixels grew or shrunk. But nowadays it is a virtually meaningless metric. Sure it kinda shows how many links a site has (or had a few months ag0) but in terms of how important it is in terms of SERPs it is not worth a second thought. Most SEO people claim to know and understand this but when an update begins it becomes the most discussed topic in all of the SEO forums, blogs, and social communities.
I understand that higher Page Rank is important to those who are not involved in search marketing (and it gives even search marketing people a little ego boost when it goes up) but the fact of the matter is it does not hold any real importance when it comes to rankings and traffic. When SEO’s talk down Page Rank throughout the year and than complain or gloat about it when an update happens we send mixed messages and the misinformation continues to spread.
I vow to stay consistent and not change my stance that Page Rank is unimportant EVEN WHEN THEIR IS AN UPDATE. Will anyone join me?
Popularity: 28% [?]
Felt this way for a long time Pilo and I am sure Google feels the same way.
January 15th, 2008 at 2:02 amPage Rank is something I obviously take notice of and when the updates come I am always curious, but I never let that distract me from just doing what I know to do to drive traffic and improve rankings. I will often will set a goal for myself (like, I’d like to see another green pixel next time), just because I know what it represents, but I would never use that as a benchmark for a client. I also use it to asses what has been done to a site in terms of link building since the last update, just to see how that has affected what the toolbar says.
Just my 2.0 cents!
January 15th, 2008 at 2:32 pmPageRank isn’t meaningless, neither is the toolbar. I don’t want to waste time arguing about that BUT I have to agree with this: “the thing that gets me is that there are a ton of SEO’s out there who claim to feel this way but whenever an update seems to be rolling out their perspective changes.”
Remember when Google tanked several sites’ toolbar PR back in Nov? For example, cre8asiteforum’s toolbar tanked due to TLA links to cardboardboxes and legal information on the home page which was pulling ~$400/month. If I was cre8, I would have done nothing. Google toyed with the green but not with the site’s ranking or traffic. But instead of doing nothing, cre8 pulled down the TLAs and filed a reinclusion request.
For what? To regain TBPR 6?
cre8 wasn’t the only site that filed a reinclusion request either. SEG and several other SEO blogs did the same.
People wear TBPR like a badge of honor. They don’t really care if it has no effect on the SERPs.
January 15th, 2008 at 2:56 pmYou’re just mad because you don’t have any PR yet.
January 15th, 2008 at 3:24 pmHalfdeck: I tend to agree. Maybe saying it is a meaningless metric was overstating it a bit but IMO it is not worth watching and worrying about, like some people do. When I am working on a site I am concerned with increasing traffic and meeting whatever goals the client has. If the PR goes up it gives the client a little ego boost but in the overall scheme of things it does not mean a whole lot. People do wear it like a badge of honor and that is what I take issue with. A lot of people who wear it like a badge of honor when it goes up continue talking about how meaningless it is a week later. That is my biggest issue. For most of the year SEO forums talk about how worthless PR is and then when there is an update it’s all anyone talks about.
Tanner: You figured me out. :>) BTW, I really like the logo designs featured on your site. Very professional and clean.
Long ago I surmised that PageRank is something you cannot control. Since I’m a control freak, I instantly became dis-interested in the subject.
January 16th, 2008 at 12:37 pmI agree with you on something. The best policy is to ignore your pagerank at all. Here an old blog post in which I state my opinion.
http://no-television.blogspot.com/2007/10/ignore-your-pagerank.html
January 17th, 2008 at 3:19 pm