Google Page Rank is dead and has been for quite some time

I don’t get bloggers sometimes. They get all huffy about their Page Rank going down as if it’s something that they are entitled to.

Now, normally I’d be front and center on all these ego games but here the real truth is that Page Rank has been dead for years. That’s why I never even looked at it anymore.

Here’s why: back when Google started Page Rank was a pretty global thing. If you had a PR of 6 or 7, it’d apply equally to everything. That’s why, back in 2004, if you did a search for “offshoring” you’d find my blog in #3 position because I had a lot of inbound links so Google just assumed I was relevant for offshoring too.

Not true.

In the past few years Page Rank has gone from something that’s global to something that applies to each keyword differently.

So, while I am very highly relevant if you do a search for “tech blogger” you won’t find me any longer on offshoring.

The problem is that Google can’t really show you your real Page Rank anyway. How would it? It would need to ship you a spreadsheet to explain how you rank for each keyword.

Now, since we’re all talking about this, two other issues. First, bloggers were showing up too high in searches anyway. In comparing to my friends we got lots of traffic from Google that we didn’t deserve. The problem is that traffic isn’t good anyway. Put it this way, let’s say I showed up high in a search for Saturn Cars (since I’ve written about them). Most people wouldn’t have found much value in that post and even if they did they wouldn’t have stuck around to be a regular reader.

I’d rather show up for when you’re searching for tech or geek stuff. That’s the audience I want to be in front of.

Oh, and if you sell links to try to game Google you deserve to be knocked down the list a few pegs.

  • http://www.syntagmamedia.com John Evans (Syntagma)

    David, you do have to bring a sense of humor along. :-)

  • http://www.syntagmamedia.com/ John Evans (Syntagma)

    David, you do have to bring a sense of humor along. :-)

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  • lvcjmac

    You can say page rank doesn’t matter, but lord knows what the mighty google is actually looking at. By the way, the log is a great read. Keep up the good work.

  • lvcjmac

    You can say page rank doesn’t matter, but lord knows what the mighty google is actually looking at. By the way, the log is a great read. Keep up the good work.

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  • http://searchengines.wordpress.com/ searchengines

    PAGERANK UPDATE IN PROGRESS

    FIRST ONE SINCE APRIL 2007

    Also, most of the blogs that were penalized over selling links have been restored to their former PR status.

    There is an internal list at Google of blogs and sites that suspected of selling link. This list can be viewed by any member on their spam team and commented on

    http://blogoscoped.com/forum/110901.html

    A visit in the referrer logs gave the whole thing away

  • http://searchengines.wordpress.com/ searchengines

    PAGERANK UPDATE IN PROGRESS

    FIRST ONE SINCE APRIL 2007

    Also, most of the blogs that were penalized over selling links have been restored to their former PR status.

    There is an internal list at Google of blogs and sites that suspected of selling link. This list can be viewed by any member on their spam team and commented on

    http://blogoscoped.com/forum/110901.html

    A visit in the referrer logs gave the whole thing away

  • http://seopravish.blogspot.com/ SEO Pravish

    RECENT UPDATE : GOOGLE PAGE RANK UPDATE:

    HUGE DROP ON ALL SITES those who have interlinked heavily will see a drop

    Check (Link check internal & External check too recommended)
    http://www.linkvendor.com/seo-tools/outbound-links.html

    MY CONCLUSIONS: About PR Drop: possibilities
    # Increase in exchange of links : INTERLINKING of various sites together
    # Increase in irrelevant links & link farms

    2 OPTIONS:
    1) A page with PR4 and 5 outbound links is better than a link from a page with PR8 and 100 outbound links.
    The more links there are on a page, the less PageRank value your page will receive from it

    2) Or a link from a PR8 page that has lots of outbound links is worth more than a link from a PR4 page that has only a few outbound links.

    FOR SOLUTIONS: check site http://seopravish.blogspot.com
    VOTE,,,,,

  • http://seopravish.blogspot.com/ SEO Pravish

    RECENT UPDATE : GOOGLE PAGE RANK UPDATE:

    HUGE DROP ON ALL SITES those who have interlinked heavily will see a drop

    Check (Link check internal & External check too recommended)
    http://www.linkvendor.com/seo-tools/outbound-links.html

    MY CONCLUSIONS: About PR Drop: possibilities
    # Increase in exchange of links : INTERLINKING of various sites together
    # Increase in irrelevant links & link farms

    2 OPTIONS:
    1) A page with PR4 and 5 outbound links is better than a link from a page with PR8 and 100 outbound links.
    The more links there are on a page, the less PageRank value your page will receive from it

    2) Or a link from a PR8 page that has lots of outbound links is worth more than a link from a PR4 page that has only a few outbound links.

    FOR SOLUTIONS: check site http://seopravish.blogspot.com
    VOTE,,,,,

  • http://aoleonthemartiangirl.com/ Anime Girl

    I agree with you that Page Rank is dead, however I disagree with you about buying links. I don’t think Google has the right to be the policeman of the web. If their algo is broken they need to fix it and not try to hand edit or punish webmasters as a result.

    My site went from PR3 to PR0, yet I still outrank many PR4 or PR5 sites. So for me it doesn’t really matter. Throw your Google tool bar away and never look back. Who cares what Google thinks.

  • http://aoleonthemartiangirl.com Anime Girl

    I agree with you that Page Rank is dead, however I disagree with you about buying links. I don’t think Google has the right to be the policeman of the web. If their algo is broken they need to fix it and not try to hand edit or punish webmasters as a result.

    My site went from PR3 to PR0, yet I still outrank many PR4 or PR5 sites. So for me it doesn’t really matter. Throw your Google tool bar away and never look back. Who cares what Google thinks.

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  • http://www.pixel2life.com/ Dan Richard

    The problem is that many advertising sites and other revenue generating programs, such as the paid review programs at reviewme.com base your payout and earnings on factors including your Google PR. Google PR is also a factor in any sales or ad positioning you sell, and god forbid you try to sell your site. It’s all well and good to say that Google PR is dead on paper, but in the hearts and minds of the web economy and it’s webmasters, PR is more important now than ever. As long as Google continues to jerk the PR rope all over the place, people will continue to use it as a benchmark even if it’s a worthless benchmark. Personally I think it should be removed completely.

  • http://www.pixel2life.com Dan Richard

    The problem is that many advertising sites and other revenue generating programs, such as the paid review programs at reviewme.com base your payout and earnings on factors including your Google PR. Google PR is also a factor in any sales or ad positioning you sell, and god forbid you try to sell your site. It’s all well and good to say that Google PR is dead on paper, but in the hearts and minds of the web economy and it’s webmasters, PR is more important now than ever. As long as Google continues to jerk the PR rope all over the place, people will continue to use it as a benchmark even if it’s a worthless benchmark. Personally I think it should be removed completely.

  • Anonymous

    My Google PR increased to 5!

  • http://symbiancorner.blogspot.com/2007/08/symbian-voip-sip-applications.html William

    My Google PR increased to 5!

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  • http://www.seobrien.com/ SEO’Brien

    “It would need to ship you a spreadsheet to explain how you rank for each keyword.” Yeah but wouldn’t that be nice?

  • http://www.seobrien.com SEO’Brien

    “It would need to ship you a spreadsheet to explain how you rank for each keyword.” Yeah but wouldn’t that be nice?

  • http://penispills.free-web-hosting.biz/ Ben Piller

    Who cares about pagerank? especially after the latest update

  • http://penispills.free-web-hosting.biz Ben Piller

    Who cares about pagerank? especially after the latest update

  • T Stump

    Who gives a CRAP about BLOGGERS? A bunch of wannabe writers to whom NO ONE would pay one cent to read, let along publish.

    Honestly, who cares about your blog’s page rank? You? Your loser best friend? Your lonely mother?

    Seriously. How about getting a REAL job and freeing up cyberspace for something far more interesting.

  • T Stump

    Who gives a CRAP about BLOGGERS? A bunch of wannabe writers to whom NO ONE would pay one cent to read, let along publish.

    Honestly, who cares about your blog’s page rank? You? Your loser best friend? Your lonely mother?

    Seriously. How about getting a REAL job and freeing up cyberspace for something far more interesting.

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  • http://www.pagerank.me.uk/ Jack

    Get a good web designer to SEO your website. It costs a little money but worth it.

    Or if you are bothered about PR then…….

    Place links on these sites. http://pagerank.me.uk or http://pagerank10.co.uk this will help your PR and can cost as little as £1

  • http://www.pagerank.me.uk Jack

    Get a good web designer to SEO your website. It costs a little money but worth it.

    Or if you are bothered about PR then…….

    Place links on these sites. http://pagerank.me.uk or http://pagerank10.co.uk this will help your PR and can cost as little as £1

  • http://www.brg8.com/ شات

    you a spreadsheet to explain how you rank for each keyword

  • http://www.brg8.com شات

    you a spreadsheet to explain how you rank for each keyword

  • http://www.seotrader.com/blog SeoTrader

    I have just added new tool to check all Google DataCenters for PageRank

  • http://www.seotrader.com/blog SeoTrader

    I have just added new tool to check all Google DataCenters for PageRank

  • http://pinktwilight.uni.cc/ Khyate

    Gawd, mine had gone to N/A too, I hate the fact that they have to reduce our PR’s just because we monetize our blogs. What’s the catch anyway? They do the same thing, too I guess on their ‘other’ websites perhaps. Damnn, it makes me go all crazy. –,

  • http://pinktwilight.uni.cc Khyate

    Gawd, mine had gone to N/A too, I hate the fact that they have to reduce our PR’s just because we monetize our blogs. What’s the catch anyway? They do the same thing, too I guess on their ‘other’ websites perhaps. Damnn, it makes me go all crazy. –,

  • http://blogs.deperu.com/blogueando/algoritmo-de-page-rank-ya-esta-descontinuado Wilson Alva

    Algorithm of Page Rank already is discontinued

    Many of the services of Google also need urgent update, is why Google prefers to buy to other companies of Internet.

    That small finder that began many years ago very good, because only era of text, very fast and efficient, that antigüo AltaVista moved my, nowadays became a Giant.

    But that has happened with the progress of his so promoted PageRank? By the sight it has not evolved in the same way, as much money and they have not managed to optimize it.

    In summary the PageRank de Google or PR simply is a numerical value that it represents the importance that a page Web has in Internet, this value is obtained through the bonds that make other pages Web to your site. (it is a summary of the great roll of his operation) the PR has been that has not evolved as it would wish the user it, many webmasters astute position their Web in the first results search of Google and when we make a search as simple as the task of your primary son of the first results that we obtain is companies doing publicity to their products/services and nor to speak of the swindles that abound by Internet.

    What happened with the quality of content? , What happened with the Google that invented an algorithm to benefit the searches from the users? Simply it turned towards the money of the publicity and grew like great company forgetting its roots.

    As much it forgot its past that now cannot produce some own project, I buy to YouTube because GoogleVideos did not do competition to him.

    Purchase technology of other projects Web because although it is certain that it sees future in them, same Google does not have it developed.

    It must have given Google account of its own weakness that now has a Laboratory as they call to him for own projects. But and what has of their essence? To as much to arrived the weakness from the PageRank that now Google penalizes to the sites of high PR that sells links, or the case of the page of a well-known Alemana company that was penalized by unsuitable practices of positioning Web. Acting as Goliat is giving bad reputation him to Google.

    To many webmasters is to them beneficial to work with Adsense, but victims of a repression feel, to the being directed by norms imposed by the greatest finder of history.

    Now we asked ourselves, Who is making its work bad? Webmasters or the PageRank de Google? Although it is certain that webmasters are many bad, also are many more if they are good, that they include/understand that to give content of quality to the users it is more important that to fill to its pages Web of words that position them in the finders.

    What is failing in the PageRank? As lack would claim to my grandmother… him to it to be more human, he is incredible that the heart of the finder, does not have the greater budget of investigation and development.

    Hay Competition at this moment? Lamentably next as Yahoo and MSN do not approach which the user wishes and for that reason the Monopoly of Google almost is guaranteed.

    Inevitably the users little by little could emigrate to another finder, as flock of doves, if this were more cash in the searches, but at the moment Google does not have competition, although personally I have seen some other finders with very interesting characteristics.

    They already say: It does not have bad lasts one hundred years, nor body that resists it and in Internet the years are months…

  • http://blogs.deperu.com/blogueando/algoritmo-de-page-rank-ya-esta-descontinuado Wilson Alva

    Algorithm of Page Rank already is discontinued

    Many of the services of Google also need urgent update, is why Google prefers to buy to other companies of Internet.

    That small finder that began many years ago very good, because only era of text, very fast and efficient, that antigüo AltaVista moved my, nowadays became a Giant.

    But that has happened with the progress of his so promoted PageRank? By the sight it has not evolved in the same way, as much money and they have not managed to optimize it.

    In summary the PageRank de Google or PR simply is a numerical value that it represents the importance that a page Web has in Internet, this value is obtained through the bonds that make other pages Web to your site. (it is a summary of the great roll of his operation) the PR has been that has not evolved as it would wish the user it, many webmasters astute position their Web in the first results search of Google and when we make a search as simple as the task of your primary son of the first results that we obtain is companies doing publicity to their products/services and nor to speak of the swindles that abound by Internet.

    What happened with the quality of content? , What happened with the Google that invented an algorithm to benefit the searches from the users? Simply it turned towards the money of the publicity and grew like great company forgetting its roots.

    As much it forgot its past that now cannot produce some own project, I buy to YouTube because GoogleVideos did not do competition to him.

    Purchase technology of other projects Web because although it is certain that it sees future in them, same Google does not have it developed.

    It must have given Google account of its own weakness that now has a Laboratory as they call to him for own projects. But and what has of their essence? To as much to arrived the weakness from the PageRank that now Google penalizes to the sites of high PR that sells links, or the case of the page of a well-known Alemana company that was penalized by unsuitable practices of positioning Web. Acting as Goliat is giving bad reputation him to Google.

    To many webmasters is to them beneficial to work with Adsense, but victims of a repression feel, to the being directed by norms imposed by the greatest finder of history.

    Now we asked ourselves, Who is making its work bad? Webmasters or the PageRank de Google? Although it is certain that webmasters are many bad, also are many more if they are good, that they include/understand that to give content of quality to the users it is more important that to fill to its pages Web of words that position them in the finders.

    What is failing in the PageRank? As lack would claim to my grandmother… him to it to be more human, he is incredible that the heart of the finder, does not have the greater budget of investigation and development.

    Hay Competition at this moment? Lamentably next as Yahoo and MSN do not approach which the user wishes and for that reason the Monopoly of Google almost is guaranteed.

    Inevitably the users little by little could emigrate to another finder, as flock of doves, if this were more cash in the searches, but at the moment Google does not have competition, although personally I have seen some other finders with very interesting characteristics.

    They already say: It does not have bad lasts one hundred years, nor body that resists it and in Internet the years are months…

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  • http://convonix.blogspot.com/ bishan

    I’ve been looking at many forums and it seems that those who got new unpaid incoming backlinks have also dropped in PR. There seems to be a vibe that many sites have dropped more than increased in PR. I’ve also come across many folks whose homepage has dropped in PR and now deep pages have an even higher PR.

  • http://convonix.blogspot.com bishan

    I’ve been looking at many forums and it seems that those who got new unpaid incoming backlinks have also dropped in PR. There seems to be a vibe that many sites have dropped more than increased in PR. I’ve also come across many folks whose homepage has dropped in PR and now deep pages have an even higher PR.

  • http://convonix.blogspot.com/ arjun

    I know of a few sites that aren’t part of a network but also suffered a nice drop, so there goes that theory.

  • http://convonix.blogspot.com arjun

    I know of a few sites that aren’t part of a network but also suffered a nice drop, so there goes that theory.