It’s Dead, Jim; You Get His Google Page Rank, I’ll Get His Wallet!

Huh? Well, Google recently updated its algorithm for ranking websites, lovingly referred to as the “Google Slap”, and blogs and websites started gasping and griping. Some of the more well-known high ranked sites suffered a 1 or 2 level drop in Page Rank. They were not happy and rightly so. These sites have provided quality content, followed all the rules and had no reason to be susceptible to a Page Rank drop. So, what the heck happened? When prominent sites like CopyBlogger and The Washington Post suffer, the small guys get nervous.

In order to understand what happened, one needs to understand what Page Rank is and how it impacts on websites. Google is responsible for the page rank. It’s a misunderstood term that is often confused with search rank. Named after Google’s co-founder, Larry Page (Page Rank, get it), its actually a measurement of the page’s importance and not your search engine position. It’s all about popularity of your pages based on the number of times it is cited or linked back from other websites.

Why would people think this was a dead issue? Like all things with search engine positioning and optimization, brokers began to sell links from high Page Rank sites to lower ranked sites in order to raise their page rank. While this is still done, it is not looked upon kindly by Google. They are looking for natural backlinks from websites that have found value from something that is posted on your site and cited it on theirs.

While this makes sense, it’s not business savvy in that where there is a need, there’s a buck to be made. Link brokers popped up everywhere selling links which Google usually takes a dim view. The other search engines usually follow suit, but since your website business is usually geared to whether Google looks favorably upon your site, it’s all about avoiding the “Slap”.

To optimize your webpage, you will want to make sure that certain things are taken care of - the Title tag is there, letting your page age, so that it doesn’t suddenly disappear, the link on the originating page is there and correctly formated. All of this helps in raising your listings, but when it comes to Page Rank, its more about links back to your site.

So, why would people think that Page Rank is dead or dying. It is still taken very seriously in many circles. However, one thing you must keep in mind. Statistic indicate that about one million pages go up ever day. Where your page and rank was competing against 100,000 pages last week, there are many more to compete against on your topic matter today. In that dilution of niche, you will lose steam and your page rank will be lower.

My site’s PR has gone up, gone down and gone up again. In all of that, traffic to my website has remained constant. I have a very targeted niche, science fiction, and it seems to remain pretty constant. I provide quality content and my readership continues to grow.

Another argument for the demise of Page Rank falls under the Google Bar that shows outdated PR and has been accused of providing false results. When looking at backlinks using Google, it’s unreliable at best. Many webmasters have discarded it as a waste of time and a frustration they can live without.

Page Rank is still considered important in many circles so it can’t be disregarded totally. However, since Google’s algorithm is based on a voting system which relies on the volume of links it counts and the importance of the PR of the link it counts, it is all relative.

It’s not that simple and Google uses other factors to measure the relative importance of it’s link counts. It still, however, comes down to what you’re searching for and what page pops up in answer to your query.

With all of that said, what do you do with your rising or lowering Page Rank? Use it and accept it for what its worth. Is it dead? Not entirely. It’s probably not even dying. It is a relative factor which is being taken less and less seriously due to the oncoming Web 2.0 social networking sites who are currently skewing listings and search engine optimization. Faster, more reliable and targeted traffic comes from these sites, but Page Rank is still very important in some circles. You’ll need to take both into account as well as all of the other SEO factors that keep that traffic flowing your way.