Though Google constantly updates its algorithms, Google's PageRank is considered a very important SEO indicator. In your experience, have you witnessed situations where it made you think otherwise?

Recommended Answers

All 32 Replies

I think Page rank is not an seo indicator...

because i have seen many website which have top ranking with their respective keywords even though they dnt have fair pr..


so i would like to say that pr is only the value of your website from the Google point of view...

Still it has some value IMO otherwise google should have discontinued it.

PageRank is like a carrot dangling on a stick in front of a mule. It didn't take Internet marketer long to realize that it was easy to convince their clients of their "superb" SEO service because they can pump up a little green bar with volumes of useless links.

Once upon a time PageRank played a significant role in ranking web pages in the results pages, but it wasn't long lasting and even the techies at the Googleplex must of been amazed at the extent of the search engine manipulation they helped create with this dinosaur.

As mentioned earlier, PageRank hasn't much of a role anymore when it comes to ranking webpages, it's role is almost exclusively used as leverage that marketers use to exploit potential clients.

Why does Google insist on keeping it active? I don't think anyone really knows (including Google itself) what the search engine is doing anymore. As long as their corporate bottom line gets met and they have dividends and Adsense money to spread around the globe then we'll all just keeping searching and advertising through it; kinda' like a modern day waltz; we all just keep on dancing together through the night ... the illusions are intoxicating ...

Is PR over rated - Hugely.

Page Rank comes under the heading of 'dazzle them with detail and baffle them with bulls**t'. It means nothing to SEO but it could be used to justify your fee/salary or to help you get some more. Other than that, no significance.

because i have seen many website which have top ranking with their respective keywords even though they dnt have fair pr..

Are any of these websites in competitive niches?

No Page rank become important when you want to be at number one sometime, otherwise it's ok if you do not get a high page rank.

Are any of these websites in competitive niches?

yes open google.co.uk and then social network platform and watch brandstation.tv just done it's SEO and still performing well against there main keywords it was at top against many keywords but there CTO made many changes in title description etc so now it is against only one in top ten.

yes open google.co.uk and then social network platform and watch <snip> just done it's SEO and still performing well against there main keywords it was at top against many keywords but there CTO made many changes in title description etc so now it is against only one in top ten.

I checked out the site you'd suggested. Despite their optimization efforts, it isn't ranking well for competitive keywords. It is, however, ranking well for non-competitive ones.

The assigned PR rating seems fairly reasonable.

Is it your site?

I checked out the site you'd suggested. Despite their optimization efforts, it isn't ranking well for competitive keywords. It is, however, ranking well for non-competitive ones.

The assigned PR rating seems fairly reasonable.

Is it your site?

It's my client website I have created my platform here, well be as a SEO in consider 4 and above as fair page rank 3 page rank is something which you can get without doing anything.
Also view my recent thread page rank jump from 0 to 4 in 16 days

What you call a competitive keywords, how you define it?
bluetooth accessories at google.com then have wirelessgalaxy.com ranking for that is also my clients website.

What you call a competitive keywords, how you define it?
bluetooth accessories at google.com then have <snip> ranking for that is also my clients website.

A keyword is competitive if large volumes of publishers are fighting to meet the demand.

The site you've listed has less than a thousand inbound links and very little competition.

A keyword is competitive if large volumes of publishers are fighting to meet the demand.

The site you've listed has less than a thousand inbound links and very little competition.

Keep learning the Internet Marketing please you seems new to this thanks.

Keep learning the Internet Marketing please you seems new to this thanks.

*laugh* Love the ad hominem attack. ;)

You are more than welcome to attempt to prove me wrong.

*laugh* Love the ad hominem attack. ;)

You are more than welcome to attempt to prove me wrong.

Why should I prove you wrong huh, u urself just said that :)

Huh? English doesn't appear to be your native language.

What exactly is it you believe I've said?

You appear to disagree with my assessment. I'm basically asking you to provide facts as to why my assessment is wrong. Call me old fashioned, but it might be more considerate to tell me why you disagree instead of defensively dishing out insults.

Huh? English doesn't appear to be your native language.

What exactly is it you believe I've said?

You appear to disagree with my assessment. I'm basically asking you to provide facts as to why my assessment is wrong. Call me old fashioned, but it might be more considerate to tell me why you disagree instead of defensively dishing out insults.

U r right:)

PR can be important for the people who are buying or selling text links because even a high PR link might not guarantee a top Google ranking and spot for the link recipient.

it still have its value. though ranking your keyword will help you to get better SERP

Are any of these websites in competitive niches?

Obviously they are not ..but here the question is about PR importance.

The ultimate aim of creating a website is earning money or spreading information..

for bot goals we need that our site should have high traffic (or you can we need top ranking with related keywords)

So i can say that we can side line the PR..

I am not saying that pr is not important..obviously it is ..but it is not everything..you can get desired goal without the pr too

commented: Thanks for an intelligent response. :) +1

The ultimate aim of creating a website is earning money or spreading information..

I am not saying that pr is not important..obviously it is ..but it is not everything..you can get desired goal without the pr too

Creating a website is merely one side of this.

How do you rate/trust a website? In theory, would the average person be more inclined to trust a site with a higher PR or a lower PR?

In the real world, would you be more inclined to trust a well known establishment over one that is virtually unheard of?

(Yes, I'm aware that not all inbound links are positive.)

I'm not saying PR is infallible. The algorithms are easily played and far from perfect. No one likes their site sidelined. But is there currently a better alternative? Should there be?

What could be an alternative for PageRank? Back in the mid 90's, I paid subscription for a metasearch engine, Copernic, which yielded results ranked in the order if I clicked it before. Very interesting concept.

People who focus on pagerank are missing the boat. We've got a higher pagerank than several of our competitors, yet they're spanking us in SERPs and traffic. But not for long :)

With the exception of lovemyseo, everyone seems to be making valid points. I was at a recent event where the concept of creating web content for the user experience rather than the search engines should be the goal. I think that if you are trying to justify your worth to clients, page rank is a metric to do so and you should design towards that goal. However, if you are trying to help your client increase the number of site visitors who return often for the content and whatever value proposition that exists, then you would design for the user experience.

commented: Exactly! +1

while some swear by the pagerank system, some choose to say there's more to 'it' than just that. overrated? yes.

How do you rate/trust a website? In theory, would the average person be more inclined to trust a site with a higher PR or a lower PR?

In the real world, would you be more inclined to trust a well known establishment over one that is virtually unheard of?

actually buddy the main issue is what is your primary goal..

most of the visitor does not know so much about the seo and most of them even does not heard about the PR.

So you are asking from a Seo expert point of view...and i am speaking on the behalf of a normal internet user..
he is not well aware with all these technical aspect like PR, alexa ranking and niche...

they just go to the search engine ..type the keywords over there ..and just go through the top result.


So the ultimate game is getting top ranking and traffic not getting pr.

Looking to hear your views

I think having a high pr status in google can make your site a trustworthy and popular your site .

actually buddy the main issue is what is your primary goal..

I fully agree. I also agree a primary goal is usually to get traffic.

And whether SEO-conscious or not, links help a site get traffic, and PR is one measure of links.

Even normal users want people to visit their site, no? We're just talking labels. Just because a normal user isn't aware of them, doesn't mean those labels don't exist.

... And whether SEO-conscious or not, links help a site get traffic, and PR is one measure of links.

Gathering a volume of useless links in order to acquire higher PR (especially from directory submissions and link exchanges) attracts very few new qualified Internet visitors, what many see as traffic is actually spiders, robots, crawlers and dataminers of all sorts and this can easily appear to be legitimate traffic but it isn't. Crawlers of this nature absolutely love high PR sites because they dig deeply into all the various link suppliers that these webpages rely on for PageRank.

Sure, a knowledgeable webmaster/website owner can easily differentiate between what a qualified visitor is and isn't but most just look at their hit counters, as long as they are spinning through the roof this pleases them for some reason in spite of inquiries for sales or service not increasing.

Personally, I'd rather have one hundred qualified visitors (those that come directly from the SERPs as a result of finding your webpage highly ranked from a keyphrase search) than 50,000 bits of Internet noise.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.