We decided to Research for validation of the constant reports of PageRank not being a Prominent Tool in the overall Metric Measurement Nor a Key Element in SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
Several Virtual Businesses venturing in the online marketing industry ask questions regarding metrics measuring; Which metrics to measure and how accurate they are. I find, more and more that many business owners are sometimes Overlooking PageRank because of all the new rumors stating that its NOT Important & an inaccurate measuring tool. Of course This is going to be a 2 sided answer, both of which play an Important roll in understanding what PageRank is used for, measures, & its importance in any Overall Virtual Business in Development.
Google’s PageRank is pretty much a household name. The millions of users who use Google search know that when they are looking for a website. The PageRank tool itself is pretty easy to read, The more green you see in that tiny bar, the more relevant the page is. PageRank is not a good measuring tool when trying to determine how successful your online campaign is, However It does let you know how authoritative your site is in the eyes of the consumer / viewer (ONLY in Google).
websites with higher page rank tend to rank better in Google. Page Rank being a combined Google measuring factor of several elements - such as back-links, Pages Indexed, content Vs. keyword Density, image attributes, link attributes, etc. PageRank is a tool used in many SEM (Search Engine Marketing) Campaigns - Only Google Of course to give you an overall Idea of how Prominent your site is compared to the competition. While of course it wont provide you with printable Measurements that can be cross referenced to aid in Retention/Conversions.
Retention / Conversion Measurements is a whole different topic all together.
PageRank is a numeric value that represents how important a page is on the web. Google figures that when one page links to another page, it is effectively casting a vote for the other page. The more votes that are cast for a page, the more important the page must be. Also, the importance of the page that is casting the vote determines how important the vote itself is. Google calculates a page's importance from the votes cast for it. How important each vote is, is taken into account when a page's PageRank is calculated. PageRank is Google's way of deciding a page's importance. It matters because it is one of the Many factors that determines a page's ranking in the search results (well, the inbound link vote part of it anyway). It isn't the only factor that Google uses to rank pages, but it is one to look at.
Do i think PageRank should be a Primary measuring tool? Heck no, Obviously its not accurate, Heck it can take up to 3 months or more for
PR to update.
With all that said, It won't effect me much for the simple fact that I understand its inaccuracies & limitations. While I don't use PageRank as a measurement tool, I do tend to glance over at it from time to time out of curiosity to see what Google thinks about a site I landed on.
I think the biggest issue out there when it comes to PageRank is the fact that some don't understand that its ONLY for Google - Period -
I suppose if I developed a measuring tool to rank the members that use my services & my company Boomed..... There would be some Marketing Firm out there that found a way to make some spare change off it too.
In short, its Popular because its a Branded way to see what a particular datacenter thinks about a particular user of the datacenter in question (ONLY), not because its accurate.
Funny, That even with its inaccuracies.... the inbound links it measures & their authority still play a roll in overall Serp's listings.
Ok, i'll stop now with the book writing & allow others to Pick me apart for my opinionated article writing skills......
