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