Did Google kill Page Rank?
 

Google removed pagerank from Webmaster Tools.

Some background:

http://www.google.com/support/forum/...e26e9e48&hl=en

We've been telling people for a long time that they shouldn't focus on PageRank so much; many site owners seem to think it's the most important metric for them to track, which is simply not true. We removed it because we felt it was silly to tell people not to think about it, but then to show them the data, implying that they should look at it. :-)

http://sites.google.com/site/webmast...nking#pagerank

Q: My site's PageRank has gone up / gone down / not changed in months!
A: Don't worry. In fact, don't bother thinking about it. We only update the PageRank displayed in Google Toolbar a few times a year; this is our respectful hint for you to worry less about PageRank, which is just one of over 200 signals that can affect how your site is crawled, indexed and ranked. PageRank is an easy metric to focus on, but just because it's easy doesn't mean it's useful for you as a site owner. If you're looking for metrics, we'd encourage you to check out Analytics, think about conversion rates, ROI (return on investment), relevancy, or other metrics that actually correlate to meaningful gains for your website or business.

It's been observed that PR doesn't necessarily DICTATE SERP placement. It's not wholly uncommon to see PR0 sites trouncing higher PR sites in the SERPs. What this latest development means is:

-- Google's heavier focus on TRUST AND QUALITY CONTENT

-- Steady shifting of focus from PR # to whether a site has SOME pr vs. NONE.

-- Heavier reliance on "trusted seed sites" and how many link hops your site is from these

It would be interesting how this impacts hardlink sales.

Click here for more free website traffic info

But it appears, there's still mixed signals coming from Google :) See the ad below. More confusion. LoLz

http://i34.tinypic.com/vy2ihf.png

I sale link...High Rank GOOGLE bar.

Blowout sale!!!


ICQ contact!

It won't affect them, it will make them stronger because PR will no longer be a factor.

If someone has a good site with relavent content, and they are selling links it will be the content that is key.

Atleast that is what is SHOULD mean......

Interesting point CONTENT QUALITY link sales but what metric to use? That was the 'security blanket' that PR gave.

Yeah very true indeed, PR wasn't always easy to spot as "genuine" though.

And people can easily fake PR. Plus Alexa ranks are no longer a good metric of site traffic due to people being able to fake ranks using scripts (similar to hit-bots).

All in all, I guess google is doing a farely (not technically good) job of stopping link sales/buyers

just trying to shut down the link selling market.

Thank you.

I have been saying that shit for years as well. Focus on quality content and the rest will take care of it's self over time. Few listen.

I guess the delayed release of the PR update's causing some waves in the blogosphere. Still, the SAME BASIC QUESTION REMAINS: If PR is done away with, what metric can be used to measure the 2 elusive things Matt Cutts keeps talking about: TRUST and QUALITY CONTENT? Imperfect as it is, PR is a way to measure these two qualities and plan your strategy accordingly.

Actually I think you're wrong. Linksellers etc. use your argument to state their high PR is worth $$, where Google just stated that it is not AT ALL the case as they PR is not accurate, or working for that matter.

I think you missed my point. As I mentioned earlier, QUALITY CONTENT is key but according to who? What metric can people point to? Is there an OBJECTIVE standard for Trust / Quality?

:thumbsup

Alexa rating and SERPS are the only thing i can think of for now.

PR is gay