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Google's PageRank - Should it
be discontinued?
As you might have noticed, Google wasn't displaying the PageRank
information from 27 May to 30 May. The PageRank bar in the
Google toolbar was grayed out for every web page.
Many webmasters speculated that Google might have discontinued
the PageRank information. However, it seems that this was
only a temporary glitch and that Google will keep the PageRank
display for some time.
Is the green PageRank bar really that important?
We explained it in the past in this newsletter. The official
PageRank value that Google displays in the toolbar has little
value for your ranking.
A Google employee even said that the PageRank meter was only
for entertainment purposes. Many web sites with low PageRank
have high rankings on Google.
What would happen if Google didn't display the PageRank
information anymore?
If the PageRank information wasn't available anymore, webmasters
wouldn't concentrate on a little green bar in their web browser
but on more substantial factors.
For example, you could ask yourself the following questions
if you want to optimize your web site:
- Does my web site has enough content that is interesting
to web surfers and search engines?
- Is my web site linked to other web sites that have similar
content that might be interesting to my web site visitors?
- Do other web sites with related content link to my web
site so that people who are interested in what I have to
offer can find my web site?
- Does the web page I want to trade links with offer interesting
content (no matter what PageRank it might have)?
Ironically, that is exactly what Google expects from webmasters.
On its official webmaster pages Google writes: "Make
pages for users, not for search engines. [...] Would I do
this if search engines didn't exist?".
What does this mean to your web site?
The PageRank of a web page shouldn't be the determining factor
when optimizing your web site and choosing link partners.
A link partner with a low PageRank that has a similar topic
like your site will bring you much better visitors than an
unrelated link partner with a high page rank.
If you see a good web site with good content that has a low
PageRank you
should trade links with that site if that web site is useful
for your
visitors. One day, that page might have a higher PageRank
and it will still link back to you.
In addition, the PageRank you see in Google's toolbar is
not the PageRank that Google uses for its algorithm. High
Google rankings are the result of optimized web page content
and good incoming links.
If you focus on your web site visitors, optimize
your web page content and get
good incoming links from related web sites, you'll get
high rankings on Google and other important search engines
(for details see recommended
resources below).
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