The End of Toolbar PR?????

[HHI Golf Guy]

Check your Google Toolbar. Did you notice that it is no longer reporting PR?

Maybe it's some sort of update leading to a new toolbar PR, but I doubt it. I think that G is going into stealth mode with PR.

[HHI Golf Guy]

Think of the repercussions if this is not a system glitch and the toolbar PR is gone forever:

1. All those sites that make money by selling high PR links just went out of business. I hope that their contracts are worded very carefully. I bet there are a lot of these site owners that are feeling ill right now. It's a good thing that it's Friday and the bars are open late.

2. You will REALLY need to analyze a site before you decide to exchange links. If you're interested, see some of my earlier posts about link building.

[frobn]

Think of the repercussions if this is not a system glitch and the toolbar PR is gone forever:

1. All those sites that make money by selling high PR links just went out of business. I hope that their contracts are worded very carefully. I bet there are a lot of these site owners that are feeling ill right now. It's a good thing that it's Friday and the bars are open late.

2. You will REALLY need to analyze a site before you decide to exchange links. If you're interested, see some of my earlier posts about link building.

Looks like Google has declared war on SEO marketers. It may be too early for them to declare victory, but I am sure they are gloating about now. This move also validaes my previous thoughts on PR being a dead end. Now what will they have to sell. I find it unfortunate that the vast majority of link seekers have not learned that "let's exchange links" no longer works.

[HHI Golf Guy]

PR is not dead - toolbar PR is dead.

Unless the Big G states otherwise, PR is still the the heart of their ranking technology.

[frobn]

PR is not dead - toolbar PR is dead.

Unless the Big G states otherwise, PR is still the the heart of their ranking technology.

Yes, that is what they state. But what is PR? It may have started out as primarily as ranking system of linking behavior but things evolve and most likely PR is much different than any of us guess. I am inclined to think that many of the factors that originally made up PR, and perhaps even PR itself, have been substantially devalued but it is in Googles best interests to maintain their public stance on PR value to keep their competitors off balance. It also serves to keep SEO marketers chasing their tail.

[San Diego Real Estate]

Well folks like Einstein said "The only permanent thing on the universe is change" Only time will tell! ;)

[Phoenix Realtor]

Noticed last night that all sites were "grey" PR.

Tick-tock-tick-tock...

[smindsrt]

I bet it will be back soon. It is a great marketing tool for Google and keeping the toolbar installed for webmasters.

[frobn]

I bet it will be back soon. It is a great marketing tool for Google and keeping the toolbar installed for webmasters.

Isn't it amazing how easy it is for Google to get competitors and SEO mareters chasing their tails.

I enjoyed reading your articles especially "SEO & Internet Marketing." I have found the vast majority of SEO 'experts' are only 'marketers' mouthing current catch words.

[HHI Golf Guy]

It is a great marketing tool for Google and keeping the toolbar installed for webmasters.

I disagree. Google is in a war against link spammers and traders. If they have to sacrifice toolbar PR for a week or forever to win this war, they will do it.

Google is now a publicly traded company and about to enter the S&P 500. The now have a different set of rules to play by.

All that we can do is wait for a press release from Google to see if this is a glitch, leading to a change, or the way things will be forever.

[frobn]

I disagree. Google is in a war against link spammers and traders. If they have to sacrifice toolbar PR for a week or forever to win this war, they will do it.

Google is now a publicly traded company and about to enter the S&P 500. The now have a different set of rules to play by.

All that we can do is wait for a press release from Google to see if this is a glitch, leading to a change, or the way things will be forever.

I don't disagree that they are in a battle I was just remarking on how easy it is for them to make competiors and SEO 'spammers' jump through hoops. I think there are some inherent problems with PR (of their own making) as they explain it but I understand their need to do things to protect their turf. In the end the closer they can simulate 'natural process linking' the better off people like us will be.

[smindsrt]

Isn't it amazing how easy it is for Google to get competitors and SEO mareters chasing their tails.

I enjoyed reading your articles especially "SEO & Internet Marketing." I have found the vast majority of SEO 'experts' are only 'marketers' mouthing current catch words.

That is a good article written by Aaron Wall. The thing is if you really want to be a presence on the WWW you need to do both. Those that rely solely on SEO will not be successful. The sad part about it is not always the better product or service that wins it is often which service or product is marketed better. :)

[San Diego Real Estate]

I Agree in todays world you have to apply various concepts to win!

[HHI Golf Guy]

I don't disagree that they are in a battle I was just remarking on how easy it is for them to make competiors and SEO 'spammers' jump through hoops.

I agree that it some moves that Google makes cause some web related business to scramble. But most of these folks deserve the problems that they encounter. If you cut corners or use black hat tactics to get placement in SERP's. you will invariably get burned.

I have always felt that building a quality, content driven site will win out in the long run. Once the content is in place, you need to take a lot of time and great effort in your link building campaign.

I tell all of my clients to expect a 2-3 month lead time in driving MSN traffic, 6 months for Yahoo, and 9-12 months for Google for all primary KW's. To drive immediate traffic, we use PPC campaigns. No one is ever misled or disappointed with the results.

[Phoenix Realtor]

I kind of enjoyed PR. Sad, but true.

Though it is abused, and I think it needs to go away, I will miss it.

[HomeSurfer]

PageRank still exists. It just isn't posted in the Google Toolbar. PageRank is not going away. PageRank is merely a "test" for relevancy to the search query.

What web site owners have been doing more and more over the last six years is "spamming" PR in order to maximize where they appear in search engine queries for certain words.

What is changing is that Google is trying to make that more difficult.

(I like my new wireless keyboard).

[frobn]

PageRank still exists. It just isn't posted in the Google Toolbar. PageRank is not going away. PageRank is merely a "test" for relevancy to the search query.

What web site owners have been doing more and more over the last six years is "spamming" PR in order to maximize where they appear in search engine queries for certain words.

What is changing is that Google is trying to make that more difficult.

(I like my new wireless keyboard).

Google introduced PR as a indirect way to measure content relevancy through behavior. They reasoned that if a page was relevant then it would get votes through links. The idea when first conceived was brilliant. The problem, as many here have commented on, is that the SEO marketers learned how to "spam" PR to raise their page ratings and in effect changed the behavior that google needs for relevant searches.

Look at PR as a research study. The independent variable is "web master behavior, i.e. voting by linking" and the dependent variable is "Page Rank." In a good research study web masters would go about voting for sites with the best content without concern or knowledge of the effect it has on Page Rank and not do anything different except to improve their content. In a poor study the web master behavior changes in an attempt to influence PR thus defeating the value of the research. In effect behavior is no longer independent but is now dependent on "PR" convoluting the research.

This is exactly what is happening and as long as Google manipulates PR there will be SEO marketers who will manipulate Google. When PR is visible others can infer or attempt to infer what influences the PR and they will behave accordingly. If google removes the visible aspect inferences will be much more difficult to make. My guess is Google will continue to show PR and attempt to shift the factors of PR to simulate a "natural process" through an "interplay" or interaction between content and linking. The importance they place on anchor text points in this direction.

[Jade456]

LOL. There is going to be a lot of confused "webmasters" out there. You know the ones; we will exchange links with you but the link page must be a pr of 4 or higher... Its those people that Google has targeted with pr denial. Ah!!!! I'm having page rank withdrawl!!!! :D

Any bets on how long the bar will be greyed out? We should start a pool. I won't miss it too much. Now the big shift will be to see if the link page is cached. Of course, Google doesn't show you all of the pages its cached either so, things should be real interesting for a while.

[amberstar702]

Interesting how possible changes in Google can cause such an uproar. It must be wonderful to have such power that so many people wonder about what you are doing and why.......... :p

[Phoenix Realtor]

I agree Terri. What power... I wouldn't want anything to do with it. I love my lack of power and my ability to go virtually un-noticed in a room. Off subject, but I would never want to be a movie star or polititian, or anything that forces me intot the lime-light.

[HomeSurfer]

My toolbar just started showing PR again.

Darn it. I was kind of hoping that a public display of PR was a thing of the past.

[Phoenix Realtor]

Same here. It was just a Memorial Day Weekend Treat. :(

[HHI Golf Guy]

Now that PR is up and running again, has anyone noticed any changes on their site?

I saw on another forum that someone stated that G had zeroed out PR on pages in their /forum/directory.

I have not noticed any changes on our sites.

[Phoenix Realtor]

No PR changes, but I am seeing IBL changes in the toolbar.

[San Diego Real Estate]

Any other significant changes noted? :confused:

[Shimmer]

i would like to tell you guys we are learning lots of things from you about google, msn, yahoo....
thanks
please do not stop... :)

[amberstar702]

Google PR is back........... :(