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The Widespread Misconception about PageRank and TrafficTyler Banfield, 10-24-2007 |
As many internet marketing blogs have noticed, Google has reduced the PageRank of many well-known blogs and web sites.
While we could spend all day theorizing about why Google choose to do this, that is not the topic that I feel the need to cover. I was not even planning on addressing the topic of PageRank reductions (because it has been echoed throughout the entire SEM blogging community), but one article from a "trusted source" changed my mind.
The article in question is entitled "Google's PageRank Shuffle: Big Sites Say Bye-bye, Traffic?." I came across this blog post by performing a Google News search for pagerank. From the second that I read the title of this article, I knew that it was going to be incredibly inaccurate, and the article did not fail to meet my expectations. In order to correct the misguided information that is provided in this article, I have included exact quotes from within the article, along with explanations and examples that will hopefully clarify the misconception that PageRank determines rankings/traffic from Google.
This is simply incorrect. As demonstrated by the example below, Google's SERPs are NOT ordered by PageRank:
(Click the image to see a larger screen shot)
PageRank is actually "a probability distribution used to represent the likelihood that a person randomly clicking on links will arrive at any particular page."
You can visit Wikipedia to see the full PageRank algorithm.
Once again, the best way to correct this misconception is with an actual example:
(The Sun-Times is in the first set of Google News results for the term Tim Wakefield)
So, since it isn't the key factor for determining Google's SERPs, what exactly is PageRank? If I had to summarize PageRank in one word, it would be this: OBSOLETE!
Google has known for quite some time that ever since they released the PageRank toolbar, SEOs and internet marketers have become obsessed with increasing their PageRank because they think it will increase their traffic. Because of this misconception, 99% of the paid link industry revolves around buying links with high PR (except for the minority that understand this approach is extremely flawed).
In closing, it's time for us to all stop thinking and worrying about PageRank, and start focusing on what really counts: creating viral content that will naturally attract links, focusing on other methods of generating traffic and using analytics to analyze and improve your web site.
While we could spend all day theorizing about why Google choose to do this, that is not the topic that I feel the need to cover. I was not even planning on addressing the topic of PageRank reductions (because it has been echoed throughout the entire SEM blogging community), but one article from a "trusted source" changed my mind.
The article in question is entitled "Google's PageRank Shuffle: Big Sites Say Bye-bye, Traffic?." I came across this blog post by performing a Google News search for pagerank. From the second that I read the title of this article, I knew that it was going to be incredibly inaccurate, and the article did not fail to meet my expectations. In order to correct the misguided information that is provided in this article, I have included exact quotes from within the article, along with explanations and examples that will hopefully clarify the misconception that PageRank determines rankings/traffic from Google.
Quote:
| That's because PageRank is the key metric that Google uses when determining where a site will appear in its search results. |
(Click the image to see a larger screen shot)
Quote:
| It's a 10 point scale, and each move up the rank means Google values a site 5 times more than a lower ranked site. If PR 1 has a value of, say, 1, then PR 2 has a value of 5, and PR 3 has a value of 25 -- so a site with a PR 3 is 25 times more likely to show up on a Google search than PR1. |
PageRank is actually "a probability distribution used to represent the likelihood that a person randomly clicking on links will arrive at any particular page."
You can visit Wikipedia to see the full PageRank algorithm.
Quote:
| The Sun-Times, for instance, which dropped from PR7 to PR5, is now valued at 1/25 of its previous rank -- meaning it may be 96% less likely to show up on Google searches. |
Once again, the best way to correct this misconception is with an actual example:
(The Sun-Times is in the first set of Google News results for the term Tim Wakefield)
So, since it isn't the key factor for determining Google's SERPs, what exactly is PageRank? If I had to summarize PageRank in one word, it would be this: OBSOLETE!
Google has known for quite some time that ever since they released the PageRank toolbar, SEOs and internet marketers have become obsessed with increasing their PageRank because they think it will increase their traffic. Because of this misconception, 99% of the paid link industry revolves around buying links with high PR (except for the minority that understand this approach is extremely flawed).
In closing, it's time for us to all stop thinking and worrying about PageRank, and start focusing on what really counts: creating viral content that will naturally attract links, focusing on other methods of generating traffic and using analytics to analyze and improve your web site.
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