On October 14, 2009, Google employee Susan Moskwa confirmed that the company had removed PageRank from its Webmaster Tools section. Her post said in part, “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.”
You can read this post by Susan and all other comments in the discussion here
In mid 2009 we saw a lot of websites having their PageRank changed especially after May upgrade to Google Algorithm. PageRank which you see on toolbars and other online PageRank checkers have become irrelevant, giving inconsistent results ever since Google introduced updates to their algorithm. This change resulted in pages giving more power to people regarding relevancy. During the last 18 months Google have introduced the following tools/features which had a direct impact on the PageRank concept.
The new tools include:
- Introduction of SearchWiki – a tool that makes search even more useful in users daily lives.
- Introduction of Real-time Search – a tool that displays Twitter posts in real-time for certain Google searches.
- Introduction of a More Show Options tab for different types of searches, included advanced Personalised Searchfor all users.
Although people believe that Google is using some sort of modified PageRank to rank websites this is not the one which you can see on the Google Toolbar and other online readers.
PageRank is a trademarked and patented technology which is now 12 years old, of course in the visible form seen in the Google Toolbar.
So, does PageRank matter anymore?
We’ like you to share your opinions on this…
PageRank is definitely not dead but you are correct in that it is not the most important factor. It’s like a chicken and egg question, what came first? If you have good content that drives traffic, then good PR will follow.
Good info, learning more everyday, Thank You
You have a style of explaining things, which is really straightforward. keep up the good work!
This is excellent! How did you learn this stuff?
I really enjoyed your site. Its nice when you find something that is not only informative but entertaining. Excellent!
This is just what I was looking for. I did not expect that I’d get so much out of reading your write up! You’ve just got yourself a returning visitor
I will be sure to add a link to this on my blog. I’m positive my subscribers will find this post really useful!
I used to buy lots of books on design, SEO, you name it and found they are pretty much time (and money) wasters.