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Since last week, when Google “disappeared” about 60 business directories, I’ve noticed that many sites seem to have lost all page rank, with the bar at zero. However, if I use the Firefox SEO tool, it still shows the most recent page rank for the site. On some sites it returns with their page rank intact after a few hours or days.
Is Google is playing games with the PageRank bar? Is this a move to warn us that they’re taking it away? The page rank that Google claims is for “entertainment value only” is one of the few measurables left to us to determine the trust value of a site.
When I’m looking at an unfamiliar site the visible page rank is a very important indicator, especially if I’m planning to buy or download something. On a site with a page rank of 4 or higher I feel safer in making a purchase, and much safer if I want to download software or an application. If Google actually takes away the PageRank indicator, it will be so much more difficult to know who to trust.
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8 Comments
Thanks for posting this Kay. Page Rank has been highly suspect as of late.
I have to be honest with you, Kay: if you’re using the page rank as a measure of security with a site, you are going to be extremely disappointed down the road.
Take our site for example - we have a page rank of 0. We still use SSL, we still encrypt your credit card data at all times, and we never sell your information to 3rd parties without your consent.
Conversely, I have had my personal credit card data stolen by a site with relatively high page rank (5) because one of the employees decided to make some extra money on the side.
All I’m saying is, Google says it’s for fun only, the data is frequently wrong, or at best outdated, and it is no indicator of the trust you can put in a website.
You make a good point, Shawn. Thanks for your comment - I appreciate it! ~Kay
As per the recent PR update … I think the big sites with PR of 5 and 6 are getting dropped … like PR 6 directories getting PR 3 and PR 0 as well ….
so is PR to our still valuable in today’s time ???? wat do u say
Valentino - I think PR is still valuable, regardless of what others say. Google doesn’t tell us what our real PR is, but still, it’s a measurement of some sort.
I don’t know exactly how page rank influences sites ranking is google. My new site has PR 0 but get some of traffic from google (about 300 hits / day) and rank well in important keywords.
Well it seems that Google will say anything to confuse us. The page rank is definitely not for are entertainment.
I second what Shawn wrote. I would not use PR as a means to evaluate a sites ability to secure our information. I think PR does let us know how long they have been around. Which I guess you could say would be the test of a good business. The longer they have been around, must mean they are doing something right.
I think the only real benefit of a high PR is the good organic search rankings. I’m not sure however, how much weight is placed on PR in Google’s algo. It sure helps though.
Great post.
@Joe - I find Google PR doesn’t indicate longevity any more. In my research I’ve found many very old sites (in Internet time) that have not been optimized properly or that don’t have many links to have a PR1. I still tend to think PR shows a certain Google trust level, although it’s not the only thing to look at.
Referring to Oka’s comment, PR0 sites can still rank and get traffic.