Why The Too Cool For PageRank Crowd Has Got It Wrong
It seems like dismissing Google Toolbar PageRank is the “in” thing to do.
The impetus for the title of this article was a quote from Barry Schwartz in his article "Obligatory Google PageRank Update Notification":
So after almost 6 months, Google has finally updated the toolbar PageRank values. At least that is what everyone is reporting in the forums. Personally, I did not look
Come on Barry, your readers deserve better, particularly since your post was one of the top ranking result pages for a search on the PageRank shortly after the release.
I’m also going to add Ian Lurie to the “Too Cool For PageRank” group, although he has to be credited as the author of the wittiest tweet about the update. Ian responded to a Website Magazine article on the importance of the update with the following,:
Website Mag: "Most important PageRank update ever?" – since they're all meaningless, sure!
When PageRank Matters
Frankly, I agree that when the metric is six months out of date it is of questionable value.
When PageRank is fresh, as it is now, it can be a valuable tool.
PageRank is an indication from Google about how their algorithm gauges the link popularity of a page, a factor which I’m going to guess may account for 21% of the likelihood of a page ranking for a specific term. (I’m basing my guesstimate upon results from the SEOmoz 2011 analysis of Search Engine Ranking Factors. SEOmoz projects that links to a page accounts for 21% of search relevance).
While link popularity has declined as a ranking factor, the release by Google of updated Toolbar PageRank remains a noteworthy event.
This PageRank Update's Wacky Numbers
Naysayers have pointed out some of the odd PageRank declines of major sites, including Adobe's and even Google itself.
Among sites that have experienced seemingly inappropriate drops was SEOmoz.org. It went from a PR8 back in January to a PR6 in this release.
When asked, Rand Fishkin, SEOmoz’s CEO, offered the following hypothesis – it's the best explanation I’ve come across:
My personal opinion is that the scale issue is actually to blame for the drop in PR many large websites experienced (including Google + Adobe's almost inexplicable slide from 10 to 9 despite billions of links).
Basically, since PR is on a log scale, and forced into a 0-10 format, the highest page on the web must be a PR10. I suspect something like a Facebook, WordPress, Miibeian.gov.cn (the page all Chinese websites must link to by gov't regulation) or some other is pushing on the top end of the scale and making other sites scale down, even if they're growing links.
This is a key reason to watch other metrics AND if you're going to use PR, to use it only in comparison to other sites/pages. It's unwise to ignore completely, particularly when it's fresh, but we need to understand it in context.
The Case For Dismissing PageRank
In defense of the two people I singled out as “too cool for PageRank”, it should be pointed out that each has written insightful PageRank critiques.
Barry Schwartz posted Why Do Some SEOs Want Toolbar PageRank to Go Away and Ian Lurie authored 8 Reasons I Don't Care About PageRank.
Ian succinctly stated his case in an e-mail:
My issue with toolbar PageRank (note that this is about TOOLBAR PageRank, not all PageRank) is simple: It's oversimplified and inaccurate. Even Google says so. Using it to make campaign decisions is unwise at best, and reckless at worst.
Heck, I also have written a couple of posts warning against relying on PageRank as a metric when it is months out of date, Google PageRank Vs. SEOmoz Page Authority: Which is A Better Metric? and Do Sitelinks Convey More About How Google Rates Site than PageRank
Conclusion
Toolbar PageRank is a flawed metric – but it doesn't make sense to completely dismiss it during those periods when the data is fresh.
It can be a useful tool to gain insight into Google’s rating of the link popularity of a page.
Just don’t plan on being able to rely on PageRank as a metric, because it is anyone’s guess as to when it will be updated again or if it is headed for permanent retirement.
Question: which metric do you wish Google would publish on its toolbar? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
Randy Pickard has been optimizing sites for search engine rankings since 1996. He currently manages SEO and PPC campaigns for clients and proprietary sites. Randy is the author of Internet Marketing Remarks and the General Manager of Shopping Baskets Plus, a supplier of shopping baskets to retail stores.
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I don't think it is a matter of being cool or not. The only people who actually profit from pagerank are those who are willing to sell links onto those pages.
As far as ranking, it is of very little importance. I have seen websites maintain #1 rank in highly competitive markets with a PR of zero. I have seen websites with a PR5 get little traffic comparatively.
Can you clarify as to what value you can get out of a freshly updated pagerank? I am just curious.
Leo Dimilo recently posted: So, you wanna build an Authority Website….
A specific example of a case where I look at PageRank is when searching for a blog to submit a guest post. The PageRank of the site will provide an indication of how much link popularity will flow from the "bio" links in the guest post. If the guest post turns out to be a real dud and neither generates external links nor connects with an audience, at least it will pass on link popularity from the hosting blog. However, PageRank by itself is only one of the criteria I would use to judge a blog as a candidate for a guest post. I have received terrific results from guest posts on blogs with PR0.
Toolbar Page Rank seems to come in handy at the time of selling a website as well. It's always discussed.
Check the links in the post, Randy. Many are broken.
Oneal
Gotta point out, Randy, that I was referring to TOOLBAR PageRank. And yes, I am too cool to care about it
Dude, I am way too cool for TBPR or PR in general .
In reality, for links, blog postings or selling the website I guess it's one metric. The real metrics to start at are SERPs, KW=>, landing pages.
Add me to the ranks of those "too cool" to concern themselves with an indicator that is (by Google's own admission, even when they were updating every 2-3 months), weeks, if not months, out of date, and possibly compiled by an algorithm that is drastically different from that which establishes true Pagerank.
There is every reason for a prudent SEO or siteowner to totally discount Toolbar PR as meaningless. Prudence, of course, is optional.
Isn't this just something that strokes our ego? It's horrible to sit with your site with a page rank of 0… but when it jumps up a couple of notches it's a nice reward for your effort – even if it is meaningless!
Here's why the Toolbar is not the CoolBar: when they push the update that doesn't necessarily mean the information is current. And since Google admits that they occasionally manually adjust Foolbar, I mean Toolbar PR it is a metric without value. From the Susan Mowska on the Google webmaster blog http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2011/06/beyond-pagerank-graduating-to.html last month:
"The focus on PageRank as a success metric only works if you assume that a higher PageRank results in better ranking, then assume that that will drive more traffic to your site, then assume that that will lead to more people doing-whatever-you-want-them-to-do on your site. On top of these assumptions, remember that we only update the PageRank displayed on the Google Toolbar a few times a year, and we may lower the PageRank displayed for some sites if we believe they’re engaging in spammy practices. So the PR you see publicly is different from the number our algorithm actually uses for ranking."
Of course, I have no doubt that PageRank continues to be central to ranking, but that's Actual PR, not Toolbar PR. Yes, toolbar is better than nothing and I wish the current version of Firefox supported the Google toolbar, but I have not gone faint without it.