A few of my social friends reached out to me this past week and asked me when I think the next Google Pagerank will be. I told them that only Google knows when.
Is it possible that Google may wait until New Years Eve like they did last year to update Pagerank? It could very well be and it’s way overdue. The last major Pagerank update was almost 8 months ago on April 3, 2010.
There are so many people that say PR is not an important, including me, and for a good reason, SERP (Search Engine Results Page) is much more important in driving non-paid traffic to a website. But why do so many people worry about it? There are a lot of people waiting patiently for the next update and some seem a little more desperate than others.
The last noticeable updates (minor) were in mid September and June and both of those updates favored websites that had a rank of N/A.
The most important measurement when it comes to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) or writing content for SEO is SERP (Search Engine Results Page). This counts the most and I am not throwing Pagerank to the curb by any means. Even if you rank in position #1 in Google for a search query, it does not mean that you are going to get traffic. Some keywords don’t bring traffic so you should research what keywords have the most queries globally by going to Adwords under Google Account Settings and click on Traffic Estimator.
There’s a possibility that Google may never update Pagerank again, because they’re focusing on more important things, such as improving search, Adsense, Google Earth, etc.
Just continue to publish quality content and utilize Facebook and Twitter to share your content.
Related Articles
What Should Google Do With Pagerank?
Google Pagerank RIP
Google Updates Links to Your Site in WMT
Google Webmaster Tools Adds New Features to Search Queries
Google Pagerank Update Way Past Due
I’m starting to think more and more that PR is going away. I use a toolset for link management, and they have taken out PR altogether and now include he SEOmoz rank instead. Either they’re jumping the gun, or they know it’s gone. :(
Yeah, when I was a total newb I used to watch pagerank like a hawk. In one sense, it was good to have a little guide as to whether or not things were moving in the right direction, but there are other on page optimization factors that are just as important for SEO. So nowadays, I don’t even use the pagerank plugin to track down the PR of every page I visit.
So I agree with the conclusion too: Keep posting and sharing, then let the search engines worry about the details.
I always though that PR was updated regularly but it looks like they only do it a couple of times a year.
I am a newbie blogger, I don’t have enough knowledge about PR. Will you kindly post a blog on this topic that how my PR can increase and reasons why it decrease?
Wishing that soon we will got a superb post on it from you!
No doubt the importance of PR has faded with time. Its not that important when it come down to SEO anymore. I just hope there are no further changes in Google’s algorithms regarding PR.
While toolbar pagerank may not seem significant, the fact that affiliate programs such as those on commission junction and elsewhere often have pagerank requirements for being accepted into the program does cause new webmasters problems. I wish the page rank issue would go away so we could get back to judging by merit and quality content rather than just a metric that can be manipulated.
I kinda like page rank because it is a way to keep score. I rank in the very top spots for some very competitive keywords, so pr must not be all that important.
I’ve all but given up on the PR ratings. My travel site, not the one listed, is 6 months old and has never been given a PR rating.
Frank, I do have another question. I just finished a client site for a company that has an established domain name that had good SERP position. I uploaded the new site this week and also resubmitted to Google so they would cache the new site. Since doing that the site doesn’t even show in Google. Even if I Google the exact URL its does not show. I can see the Google Map listing for them, but not the website. Did I do something wrong? Will this correct itself? Just a bit concerned.
Bill,
Inclusion can take weeks. Have you checked Webmaster Tools to ensure the site was not penalized? I would just give it time and you should start seeing pages showing up in the index.
I have noticed that my some of my internal pages have gone from n/a to zero….could the major update be coming soon.
It was not too long ago when it was the most important thing to have a”high” pagerank. But just as you mentioned Frank, serp is where it is at now and the focus on where one is on the search results. For me having a good page rank is nice to know but at the end of the day is not what pays the bills, it’s the conversion rate on search results that keeps me going.
Google’s algorithms are changing continuously, which is a little frustrating, because you don’t really know if your work is worth it. But if they sing this way, we have to play.
Pr doesnt count anymore as before, and I still see stupid people paying a lot of money for PR links! I have all high pr in my website what I care about is my ranking on the SERP
Areide,
Stupid is so harsh and looking at your site I would say you have yourself a long journey, but a fun one.
I personally prefer mozRank anyway; it’s definitely tracks a more relevant set of metrics IMO.
Bobvy,
I also like mozRank and it does seem to be a bit more accurate and is updated more often.
PR updates is not so often – nevermind.
Jamal,
If you’re looking for link juice put a little bit more effort in your reading and comment.
PageRank will continue to be important as long as that’s what people are still looking at. Hit up the majority of people that are trying to do direct advertising, and the first thing they look at for potential publisher sites is what their pagerank is.
So, that’s why many people are anxious for the PageRank to be updated, especially newer sites.
Is there a difference between N/A and zero?
Yes, you now have a rank though it’s zero, it’s still better than N/A.
Google advise us that we shouldn’t wait for the next PR, and we must concentrate more on Analytics results. This if we want a good SERP position.
I just started to learn more about SEO right after the last major update when our new site was built so I was really anxious to see how my PR would increase over this year… mistake! But at least I know there are other ways to gauge the SEO progress of my site, although it would be nice to see PR updates just as a general tool for dummies like myself.
Joel,
Forget PR and focus on SERP (Search Engine Results Page). This is a lot more significant.
I’m waiting for the google page rank update… but don’t know if anything will change? I’m at pagerank 5 for http://www.tolkienlibrary.com and I guess it will stay that way… if the rumors are correct I’ll know on Tolkien’s birthday! Yes that is the 3th of January!