Many of us working with search engine optimization (SEO) are familiar with the Google PageRank tool. A few weeks ago, there was some internet buzz about PageRank being removed from the list of Google Webmaster Tools.
There was talk about Google changing their algorithm to see what determined a website’s worth. Basically, any change in the algorithm would revolve around the relevance of site links. If your website has relevant incoming links, if you link to similar sites, and if you have good content, you’d most likely benefit from the algorithm change. Many of those engaging in search engine optimization (SEO) are actually applauding the change, pushing in favor of good content rather than engaging in buying links to rank.
Susan Moskwa from the Google Webmaster Central, regarding the change, said: “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.” So, its removal was because it seemed contradictory for Google to display PageRank statistics while preaching about how it should not be an important metric.
This led to questions about what would happen to the PageRank tool on the Google Toolbar. As of today, we have our answer—there is a Google Toolbar PageRank updates have begun. There are many discussions around the topic, but the general consensus is that Toolbar PageRank changes won’t affect your ranking. Before this update, the PageRank scores displayed on the toolbars were outdated and have zero direct impact on your current Google rankings. PageRank has an influence on Google rankings, but the score doesn’t affect or reflect your rankings. In the end, it’s a consensus that traffic and ranking in search engine optimization (SEO) are much more important that PageRank scores.