Beware of the Great Beasts of Google!

This brings me to the most extraordinary mythological creature that has roamed the Google landscape since ‘the sandbox’: the Google Toolbar Page Rank (TBPR) system. While the jury may still be out on the ‘sandbox’, I am here to slay the beast that is the TBPR, right here, right now.

Forever let it rest in peace where it truly belongs, in Google purgatory. I am not saying it is without its relative value; its mere existence quantifies that. It just doesn’t have a ‘measurable’ value that warrants earmarking any serious marketing dollars. It is being overvalued in today’s SEO landscape. Don’t waste time and money trying to get a higher PageRank. Just love it for what it is.

Because of the mystery surrounding the algorithms and the SEO community, I knew there would be those who would lash out in a vain attempt to hold onto the LGB (little green bar), which is so much a part of their culture.

He is a destructive beast, though. He eats up great swaths of forum boards, causes countless hours of ‘webmaster worry’, and even deludes its followers’ minds. I’m genuinely sorry, but it has to end. This creature must die. We must move on to greener pastures of content relevance, semantic indexing, organic link building, and the other wonders that the great Search Engine Gods have to offer.

What is this Page Rank Phenomenon?

PageRank is, in essence, a rough system for estimating the value of a given link based on the links that point to the page it hosts. Since its inception in the late 1990s, more sophisticated and nuanced link analysis systems have replaced PageRank.

Thus, in the modern era of SEO, the PageRank measurement in Google’s toolbar, directory, or through sites that query the service is of limited value. Pages with PR8 can be found ranked 20-30 positions below pages with a PR3 or PR4.

Additionally, the toolbar numbers are updated only every 3 to 6 months, making the values even less accurate. Rather than focusing on PageRank, it’s essential to think holistically about a link’s worth. Have an organic approach to things.

What isn’t commonly known is its actual and measurable value in the marketing landscape. I have spent far too many hours on mind-numbing technical documents and conventional wisdom research, which has led me to my eventual perspective on PageRank and its ‘relevance’ (a little LSA humor there) as it relates to being part of a meaningful online marketing campaign.

The Value of Google’s Page Rank System

At the core of my interest is the concept of ‘value’. What is the value of the LGB? Is there one? If so, how can it be defined and measured in terms of ROI? I don’t consider SEO a hobby or a passing interest. It’s about business.

It is a service that is part of a larger internet business development scheme. As such, I have to quantify the actions and investments (of time and money) I make in my activities, which is not easy in the SEO world.

I have long watched and listened to various hubbub about PageRank (PR) and the Google toolbar phenomenon. I looked into it and found little that warranted further research investment, so we moved on to other aspects of SEM/SEO.

Well, doesn’t that little beast keep growing, as does the myth? People’s beliefs and ideas surrounding the TBPR systems are truly incredible.

Listen to the Masters of Yore

I have had it argued, in all seriousness, that the TBPR had value because consumers would consult it for ‘authority’ before making a purchase. Oh, come on!

As penned by SE Guru Mike Grehan,
“Can you imagine some surfer finding the digital camera of his dreams at a knock-down bargain price but refusing to buy it because the page it’s on only has a PR of one? I don’t think so.”

Grehan interviewed Google engineer Daniel Dulitz in 2003. When asked about data accuracy in the toolbar meter, he told Mike that there are two elements: accuracy and precision. The toolbar is accurate but not very precise. He added, “We have a lot more precision available to us than we represent in a 10-step scale.”

When asked about the obsession with ‘the little green bar’ by the SEO community and webmasters, Dulitz said,

For search engine marketing and search engine optimization purposes, I’d say there’s too much emphasis placed on what that PR number actually is. So, if people are trying to look at what we’re doing and their idea is based on that single thing from 1 to 10, then… well, they’re not going to be effective in figuring out what we’re doing at all.”

In an interview with Lee Odden at the WebmasterWorld Pubcon in the spring of 2006;

Given the attention people have given to PageRank, which is displayed in Google’s toolbar, you can see how I feel about using toolbar data. I’m not going to say whether Google uses a particular signal in our ranking; I just wanted to communicate some of the potential problems in using things like toolbar data.”

Another chat between Matt and Lee produced the following: “Google does not use toolbar data for rankings.” He mentioned that it certainly didn’t help that, in the “Meet the Crawlers” session at SES NYC, the MSN rep suggested that MSN “might” be using user and toolbar information. That suggests the other search engines do as well. Matt also said that user data would be too easy to spam to use for rankings.

Toolbar Page Rank is Dead! Long Live Targeted Traffic!

Isn’t the ultimate goal of Internet marketing and SEO to get more targeted traffic, from which we hope to elicit the best possible conversion rates? Honestly, in my SEM/SEO background and training, Toolbar PR has been a passing metric for general consumption for quite some time.

Those selling text link advertising would have you believe it is the all-powerful measuring tool. Strange, I’ve seen PR6 sites with better SERPs and traffic than those with a PR6. Isn’t my advertising about the distribution channel?

Do I want my ad on the site with a pretty green bar that reads ‘6’, or on the site that actually gets the traffic I’m targeting? For some reason, SEO folks have a skewed marketing perspective and like things the other way around.

Just like many websites disappearing into the Google sandbox, let this menace of Google PR no longer terrorize SEOs and Webmasters alike. Let us rejoice and move on to new and wonderful lands with promises of getting traffic.

Wonderful, life-giving, targeted traffic. That’s truly what matters to the website. It’s the food that gives it life. I shall see you on the other side. Please leave this place or Page Rank hell now, before it’s too late.

Make your conclusions.

Post excerpts article Resources; Grehan interview; Lee and Matt II