| The recent Toolbar RageRank update once again has | | | | Google uses a cloud of factors to rank its search |
| generated a lot of discussion in the SEO community. | | | | results. Some of them are query specific (keyword |
| Webmasters report their websites receiving not | | | | saturation of the page copy and the backlinks'anchor |
| much more traffic despite the increased visible | | | | text) and some of them are domain specific (domain |
| PageRank. In numerous forum threads people | | | | age, keywords in domain name, and of course |
| question the reliability of toolbar values. By unveiling | | | | PageRank). Nobody outside the Google's offices |
| the following five myths I hope to answer to some | | | | knows the actual weight of each factor and it is |
| of the uncertainties caused by this update. | | | | quite possible that PageRank is no longer the primary |
| 1. PageRank values range from 0 to 10. | | | | one. |
| While some people believe that PageRank is an | | | | 4. Google toolbar shows an increase of PageRank for |
| integer number or at least converge to an integer | | | | my pages. My traffic is going to skyrocket! |
| after intensive recursive calculations, actually it is a | | | | Wrong. There won't be any sudden traffic increase |
| floating point number. Google rounds up the real value | | | | after toolbar upgrades any more. As I said before, |
| to the closest integer and puts it on the 0-10 scale | | | | the continuous calculation and update of the Google's |
| which is displayed in your browser toolbar. | | | | internal PageRank means that the rankings also |
| 2. PageRank value displayed in the toolbar is the one | | | | adjust gradually as your pages get or lose backlinks. |
| used to rank the results. | | | | So the toolbar upgrade itself will not cause any |
| As you might have noticed, the toolbar value is | | | | changes in search results. |
| updated every few months with no regular intervals. | | | | 5. Toolbar PageRank is of no use, it is just for |
| In the present time Google continuously calculates | | | | entertainment. |
| and updates PageRank so that sometimes actual | | | | This is allegedly a quote by one of the Google |
| PageRank and its toolbar values can differ. The | | | | representatives. This is only partially true. The reason |
| toolbar value should be considered not as a current | | | | why Google doesn't show the actual PageRank any |
| rank but as a level your page has reached by the | | | | more is that there have been repeated attempts by |
| time of the latest toolbar update. | | | | hackers to access an exploit these data. Since 2004 |
| 3. PageRank is the primary factor to rank the search | | | | the toolbar values updates are no longer |
| results. | | | | synchronized with the actual rankings changes, and |
| Not exactly. PageRank was the backbone of the | | | | therefore should not to be considered too seriously in |
| Google success as a search engine because of its | | | | terms of SEO. However toolbar ranks still remains the |
| integrity, ability to use the unique democratic nature | | | | easiest and most obvious way to evaluate the quality |
| of the web and hyperlinks, and relatively high | | | | of a page and millions of web users regularly judge |
| immunity to abuse. But as years passed the Google | | | | websites according to what Google toolbar shows |
| technology became far more sophisticated. Now | | | | them. |