The Toolbar Pagerank Values May Be Under Revision Options

[bwelford]

There seems to be some chatter in other places that the Toolbar PageRank values may be about to change. If you want to check out whether your websites may be affected, you may wish to use the PageRank Checker.

On the other hand, since this is only the fun thermometer-type scale that Google provides and doesn't really change the way the underlying search algorithms are working, you may wish to ignore this.

This post has been edited by bwelford: Apr 29 2007, 06:37 PM

[A.N.Onym]

Well, we did get a PR update lately. Where does the news come from, anyway?

[bragadocchio]

I've been wondering about this.

With Google emphasizing Web History for people, it's more likely that more people will be surfing the Web with the toolbar PageRank turned on.

Yet, the infrequent updates to that toolbar PageRank make it an unreliable indicator, and may be misleading. Would it make sense for Google to update the Toolbar numbers more frequently?

[projectphp]

Depends what its purpose is, Bill.

From http://www.google.com/support/toolbar/bin/...e=features.html

PageRank Display
Wondering whether a new website is worth your time? Use the Toolbar's PageRank™ display to tell you how Google assesses the importance of the page you're viewing.

Taking the purpose as "importance", toolbar PR an indicator is pretty reliable, especially at the top end. Far more reliable than most othe measures.

As a 1-10 scale, I doubt more frequent updates would lead to much more accuracy in many cases. I mean, does being a 6 and showing a 5 really affect the value one places in a page, enough to justify more frequent updates? It may for the 1-4 range, where a link or two can move a page from to 4 or even 5, but for the vast majority of sites at most moments in time, I reckon it makes little difference.

Of coure, I'd rather see it update more often, but that is just me, and not really an fair meassure

[JohnMu]

Google's toolbar pagerank is something very misleading, in my opinion. Not only for the users, who expect that it is a signal of "quality" (which it can't be, if it's just based on popularity) but also for the webmasters who see it as a signal of how valuable Google finds their site. Even more so now that Google discounts certain links (and who knows how recognized "paid" links will fit into the equation in the future).

I have serious problems trying to explain the toolbar pagerank number to people who are not in the SEO business.

John

[bragadocchio]

Taking the purpose as "importance", toolbar PR an indicator is pretty reliable, especially at the top end. Far more reliable than most othe measures.

One of the problems with PageRank from the first day it was used, is that it's based upon a fallacy - the more important a page is, the more links it will have pointed at it.

The analogy it's based upon is supposed to be academic citations (in peer reviewed documents).

Yet people link to pages for many reasons that have nothing to do with the importance of a page. Here are a few:

1. A personal relationship with the owner of the site linked to (family, friends, acquaintances).
2. A paid relationship with the owner of the site linked to (advertising, affiliates, business partners, etc.).
3. A negative reference to the site linked to (accusations, examples of what not to do, etc.)

A link by itself is a reference and not an endorsement. Yet PageRank treats it as an endorsement.

[eKstreme]

I have serious problems trying to explain the toolbar pagerank number to people who are not in the SEO business.

Here is what I try in these cases: The PageRank of a page is a measure of how like someone randomly surfing around the web to land on that page. Whether they do land on that page or not depends on a lot of factors, so PR is not a measure of traffic, but (very) generally correlated.

Also, Google doesn't release the real PR but provides quarterly entertainment for webmasters and the SEO community in that it "updates" the toolbar PR. The real PR is stored internally at Google and is used as a ranking factor.

This usually gives the questioner enough of an answer to learn something new and to realize that there is a lot more to this that they shouldn't bother asking about ( = peace of mind for Pierre )

P

[Halfdeck]

Not only for the users, who expect that it is a signal of "quality" (which it can't be, if it's just based on popularity)

Sanjya from American Idol is a proof of that. He stayed in the competition not because he could sing well but because he was massively popular. Howard Stern fans also voted for Sanjya not to endorse him but to undermine the outcome of the show.

[bragadocchio]

Funny, I had the same example in mind.

Someone may get a lot of links not because of quality, but perhaps even inspite of it.

[bwelford]

Re the source of this item, there is a Webmaster World Thread discussing this at the moment.

[DarrenC]

Yes, I have seen PR changes. Of the sites I have visited, everyone has reduced Google PR but it's interesting [or maybe not] that my blog, has reduced PR, but traffic and rankings haven't suffered.

I know PR isn't just the number of links to your domain but I guess Google change the algo for the PR calculation regularly, or is it the same calculation all the time?

[redcardinal]

Cant help but wonder what things would look like if that little green bar were turned off altogether? After all, what is its purpose? What good does it do for Google? And, more importantly, what good does it do for surfers?

As Softplus noted, there is no qualitative element to the score. And I'm pretty sure that disabling the TBPR would have an impact on the paid links issue. It would surely have an impact on the wider SEO fraternity...

[Sush]

Yea I have found many sites experiencing new PR values. Many known sites have experienced a diminishing PR value. What I feel that less updated pages or stagnant pages are suffering. They are also considering the link exchange factor. My site traffic affected badly since last few weeks.

One of my client sites has completely out of the SERP. I am waiting to see a better result.

I have serious problems trying to explain the toolbar pagerank number to people who are not in the SEO business.

Same here and only when PR is very important to handle your clients who know very little regarding SEO, except this green line.