With this weekend’s PR update on Google, I was reminded by client inquiries, and even past client questions (whom I thought we had educated!) about the mystery and confusion surrounding Page Rank.
Here are some PR facts that I find myself discussing with people:
1. If your Page Rank goes down slightly during an update, it is not a penalty. The PR showing in the toolbar is just a ‘grade’ that Google is assigning you. If you lose some powerful links, it could go down. If some sites that link to you lose PR, you will lose PR. If Google changes the way they determine PR, you can lose or gain PR. If you have not kept up with your content, you could lose PR. The reasons are numerous, but a slight drop is not a penalty. A penalty is for doing something against Webmaster Guidelines, and will show up by removal from the index, or a dramatic drop in search rankings.
2. The PR showing is not current. The Page Rank Google is assigning your site is not always displayed currently, only right after an update. You very well may have done work to your site, built a well rounded link profile, added an interface for user generated content, and still 2-3 months later, stuck at your PR4. You actually don’t know exactly what you PR is, so do not fret.
3. Higher PR does not necessarily mean higher rankings. We really try to train our clients on this issue more than anything. Focus on your rankings, your traffic, your conversions… not your PR. Countless searches have PR0-3 outranking PR4-6, it is not the only measure in the Google algorithm to determine where your site will fall. Unless you are selling links on your site and need to show someone that your PR is high, you just do not need to worry about it. It’s nice to see a number going up, but if the results do not follow, what is the point? It’s a report card from the 5th grade that doesn’t matter when you are 30 in the work force. I’m not saying to ignore it altogether, just keep it in perspective. It is a general snapshot of the trust Google is putting in your site. In general, you will rank higher with a higher PR, but it is just one piece of the puzzle.
4. PR juice does flow. Notwithstanding point #3 about trying not to obsess on page rank, you should understand that gaining links from high PR pages will flow PR to your site. So while you may not want to worry and fret about your own sites PR, you should be aware that your most valuable links are from high PR sites, or mid-PR relevant sites. If you are working to obtain links, you will gain benefit from high PR pages. (mixed in of course naturally) So if you view PR as a snapshot of trust, to gain a link from a more trusted site, especially a site relevant to your industry, is going to boost your PR, but more importantly, boost your search rankings.
In general, if a PR drop or increase is not coinciding with a decrease or increase in your search results or traffic, it should be of much concern. Of course, it if goes up, it is really fun to jump around and show your report card to your friends, but traffic traffic traffic is key.
Tags: Google Page Rank, PR, PR update