The Terrible Truth About Google Page Rank
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Google’s page rank is finally meeting its (long overdue) end.
I don’t know how many pages I’ve visited of late that get decent (or boatloads of) traffic yet have no or very low PRs. In reverse, you’ve got the huge PR website, yet you can easily tell (via add ons, etc.) that no one knows they even exist.
- Image via Wikipedia
For further proof, head to the Google search itself. Type in anything you want (I typed in “latest news google pr“) then start scanning and researching the leading results. For my particular phrase, front page results reflected posts and web pages posted last month to several years ago. I did check the “pr” and “alexa” for many of them. No surprise to find that front page results included sites without any PR at all – along with some with traffic so minuscule anyone would be shaking their head over “why the front page?” (Maybe our accompanying illustration helps reinforce the head scratching, mind boggling way this is all “determined.”)
It’s fact – while there are popular sites (depending on what you type) like WebMD or Amazon in your search results, you always find within those same front page results websites with no PR and a variety of traffic (low to high).
So I’m going to go further out on that limb to say that I think when it comes to choosing “traffic versus Google PR” that anyone in their right mind would opt for the traffic, right?
Boatloads of traffic!
The Google PR used to be a badge of honor, and many a webmaster or seo expert sweated bullets over this one. Maybe some still do.
However, even the folks at Google cannot or will not tell (or do not know) whether PR really means a hill of beans in the end.
What prompted this post was an inspection this morning of my ezine advertising website.
At one point in its so far 7 year history, it achieved a traffic rank of under 21K and held onto a PR 4 (for this type of niche this was outstanding). Then along came one of those infamous algorithm changes and now… well this morning on my end of the world there is no PR on the site. Zip, zilch, nada.
- Image by Getty Images via Daylife
Now it could be the folks at Google are in some cycle doing updates again. Could be the poor thing just lost out in this latest round of bids for ranking. Be that as it may, thankfully it does sit on the front page for many of the distinct keywords necessary for folks to find it. And that’s what counts.
Google plays with their algorithm so much and so often, you could easily drive yourself insane figuring out your next move. Running around in circles trying to please or appease, you’ll not only get dizzy, but allow much of your competition to race right past you.
What should you be working on? Words. Content. And more importantly, in SEO terms, keyword content. You do have to know the difference between appropriately working those keywords into your content (and which ones are really going to be any use to you in the first place) and cramming them into metas and content like there’s no tomorrow. Do not be short sighted nor mislead by shady tactics.
The time is ripe for the rest of the world to just “do their own thing.” Work your website or blog the way you wish to work it (and start having fun for a change). Go for the gold, go for traffic. Let’s also hope that Google drops this antiquated ranking platform very, very soon.
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January 10th, 2009 at 11:32 am
I agree it’s pure black magic and nothing to do with traffic from what i can see.
Brians last blog post..Places to Visit in France
January 10th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Huh? LOL
Judys last blog post..Putting a “Spin” on Things
January 10th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
@Brian – I’d definitely give up “bragging rights” for tons of traffic
@Judy – it’s okay, your blog is doing terrific!
January 10th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
I agree with you and go for the traffic. I have been reading about folks losing their pr due to an unexpected upgrade by google. It is really confusing but in my mind, traffic is gold!
Lindas last blog post..Have You Heard?
January 10th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
I think alexa rank says more than PR anyway!
Barbaras last blog post..Finally – A Company That Listens !
January 11th, 2009 at 10:39 am
I am going with the gold … traffic! I hear alot of other bloggers complaining about google and their surprise upgrades/downgrades.
Lindas last blog post..Have You Heard?
January 13th, 2009 at 8:19 am
This was a very informative article. I will read your blog often.
January 14th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
I do want to add that even Alexa has it’s ups and downs (which I most likely stated above) so adding as many stats as possible to track is extremely useful.
We use StatPress for our blog, have it in webmaster tools at Google, and run Google Analytics – at a minimum. Oh and of course our own cpanel stats give a really good picture of what’s going on.
Paying attention is important! We see tons of people slap up a blog and wonder why they never get “discovered.”
Our “Tricks” are purely white hat marketing, we’d never jeopardize ourselves when it comes to the search engines.
January 14th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Hey Teresa
I see exactly what you are saying here. I think people put too much focus on stats like PR, yes I believe they are important but to what extent ?
Well it means you can charge more for advertising right ? lol
Good post.. thankyou
Dean
Dean Hollands last blog post..I want your input.. DeanHolland.com makeover !!
January 14th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Even though I don’t see PR having any value, I’m still from the old school of SEO and when I got my rank back at the beginning of the year from a ZERO to a 2, I was thrilled.
Julies last blog post..Happy 4 Year Blogoversary To Me
January 17th, 2009 at 8:45 am
PR is important because content from the site would be indexed faster on google search than a site with no PR. This is because google algorithm trust the site more than a PR 0 site.
PR doesn’t mean anything. As long as traffic is coming to your site, forget about PR.
Dalirins last blog post..Are You Ready to Choose a Niche?
January 22nd, 2009 at 7:29 am
“Work your website or blog the way you wish to work it (and start having fun for a change).” This is sound advice for any blogger. Glad I came back to “pop my head in” again to say hello. ~Nards
Nardss last blog post..Song of the day: World – Five for Fighting
April 24th, 2009 at 1:53 am
Nice post,I agree with You. I think if you have good Google PR that doesn’t mean that you will achieve a good ranking too…
August 24th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Amazing this topic. Very well explained!
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:21 am
I had a Google PR3 on a links page and wrote about that in a blog post, saying it must be OK to have a links page because mine has a PR3. A few days later – gone, I hadn’t changed anything, don’t think I added any more links but might have tidied 1 or 2 off, but even so how do you go from 3 to nothing, not even a 0/10 when you don’t change anything.
SO PR, its too fickle, just go for traffic every time.
Brian´s last blog ..Getting quality content for your blog
September 4th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Hi Brian, yes I agree! It all appears to be hit or miss. My other site, around since 2001, had a PR 4 going on 5 – then zip. Ah well… visitors are the key so SEO optimizing is a necessity. All this “popularity contest” type thing can drive a person crazy LOL!