PageRank Update April 2009
PageRank Update April 2009
Apr 06So are you up or down since Google updated the PageRank toolbar at the beginning of the month?
I have to confess, I’ve taken a lot less interest in PageRank over the last year or so.
Sure, it can provide some sort of semi-useful SEO data, such as an indication as to a particular web page’s inbound link-strength, i.e. the number of external sites that point to that particular page. And it obviously plays a part in some Google algorithms, because one of the reports in Google Webmaster allows you to see which page on your domain has the highest PageRank.
Of course, it’s also helpful to have a good PR if you want sell your website, because a lot of people out there in internet marketing land still judge a website’s worth by its PR score.
But if you’re interested in getting top placement in Google, don’t stress over PageRank. It’s common for websites with a PR of ZERO, ZIP, NADA to outrank other pages with say a PR of 4 or above.
There are many factors that come into play, and having a PR6 website doesn’t even remotely guarantee you top placement in the Big G for your coveted search phrase.
The other problem with the Page Rank algorithm is that the actual ranking we see in the little toolbar is only updated a few times every year (we have only seen one this year so far).
Focusing on the Latent Semantic Indexing is the way of the future in my opinion.
Dan
Agreed – the PR data in the toolbar could be several months old, whilst Google is actually updating daily (or faster).
However, I feel PR only still holds significance for those in the market of buying and selling domains. I’ve seen many websites with the “grey bar” ranking 1st for highly competitive phrases.
It’s a useful gauge, but by no means the complete picture.