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Tag: Toolbar PageRank

  • Google Toolbar PageRank Now Gone

    Google Toolbar PageRank Now Gone

    Last month, we learned that Google was officially killing off Toolbar PageRank. The data hadn’t been updated for a long time anyway, but the company went on record saying it was dead.

    At the time, Barry Schwartz reported:

    Google explained that they still use PageRank data internally within their ranking algorithm, but the external PageRank values shown in the Toolbar are going away completely….You may continue to see PageRank values in the toolbar for the next couple of weeks, but after that, you should no longer see it.

    Those couple of weeks (give or take) have now expired, as the values have reportedly gone. Search Engine Land says it has seen dozens of reports from over the weekend of people saying their PageRank is gone.

    Again, PageRank is still a major part of the Google algorithm. It’s just that the value displayed in toolbars, which likely hasn’t been a good representation of actual PageRank for quite some time, will no longer be there giving you a sense of how your page is doing.

    Google did recently name its top three ranking signals, which are content, links, and RankBrain.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Google Is Not Going To Be Updating Toolbar PageRank Anymore

    It looks like Google Toolbar PageRank may officially be a thing of the past. This will no doubt please some, while upsetting others, but for better or worse, don’t expect it to be updated anymore.

    Do you think Toolbar PageRank should die, or do you still find a use for it? Let us know in the comments.

    Over the last couple of years, Google has already been updating PageRank less frequently. In fact, it’s not even been updated this year at all. The last update came in December.

    Even before that, Google had given indication that it wouldn’t update it before the end of last year, if at all, though it ultimately did. By that point, many had assumed Toolbar PageRank was going away because it had been so long since the previous update after years of regularity. Before the December update, it hadn’t been updated since the prior February. Historically, they had updated it every three or four months.

    Google’s Matt Cutts tweeted a year ago that he would be surprised if there was another PR update before 2014. Well, there was, but that was the last one. It’s now been ten months.

    Google’s John Mueller actually addressed the lack of an update in a Google+ Hangout (via Search Engine Roundtable).

    PageRank is something that we haven’t updated for I think over a year now, and we’re probably not going to be updating it going forward, at least in the Toolbar PageRank…

    He said that at 20 minutes and 30 seconds into this video.

    Of course Mueller is incorrect in that it’s been over a year, but he seems to be under the impression that Toolbar PageRank is dead. He wasn’t exactly making an announcement, but discussing it in relation to somebody’s question about a particular site’s rankings, so it’s probably not out of the realm of possibility that an another update could sneak through, but it sounds like it’s not going to happen.

    A year ago, Cutts discussed PageRank in this video:

    “Over time, the Toolbar PageRank is getting less usage just because recent versions of Internet Explorer don’t really let you install toolbars as easily, and Chrome doesn’t have the toolbar so over time, the PageRank indicator will probably start to go away a little bit,” he said.

    In another video earlier in the year, he said, “Maybe it will go away on its own or eventually we’ll reach the point where we say, ‘Okay, maintaining this is not worth the amount of work.’”

    So the writing has been on the wall for quite some time. Still, people have continued to monitor PageRank, and look forward to seeing that data refreshed.

    The last update was actually kind of a side effect of sorts. As Cutts noted at the time, the team was fixing a different backend service, and did a PR update along the way. He said it wasn’t an accident, but that it was just easier for them to push the new PR data rather than keeping the old data. Maybe that will happen again.

    Do you want to see Google continue to update Toolbar PageRank? Let us know in the comments.

  • Google Toolbar PageRank Lives (For Now)

    Just when you thought you were out, they’ve pulled you back in.

    Google has updated its data for Toolbar PageRank, after giving indication that it likely wouldn’t happen before the end of the year, if at all. Many of us assumed that it was pretty much going away because it has been so long since it has been updated, after years of regularity.

    Google’s Matt Cutts tells us it came as the result of an update to a backend service that “handles dupes and equivalent names,” and that while he’d hesitate to says he’d be surprised if regular updates like before started happening, in general, he’d “expect PR updates to be less of a priority.”

    Are you glad to see a PageRank update? How did you do? Let us know in the comments.

    Reactions to the update are mixed. Some are happy to see the new(er) data, while others wish it would just go away once and for all. As those in the SEO industry have known for years, the data simply isn’t that useful as a day-to-day tool, mainly due to the time that passes between updates, yet others obsess about it.

    Here’s a real time look at what people are saying about the update on Twitter:


    This is the first time Google has updated PageRank since February. Historically, they’ve updated it every thee or four months. Cutts tweeted in October that he’d be surprised if there was another PR update before 2014.

    Shortly after that, he discussed the topic in a Webmaster Help video:

    “Over time, the Toolbar PageRank is getting less usage just because recent versions of Internet Explorer don’t really let you install toolbars as easily, and Chrome doesn’t have the toolbar so over time, the PageRank indicator will probably start to go away a little bit,” he said.

    In another video earlier in the year, he said, “Maybe it will go away on its own or eventually we’ll reach the point where we say, ‘Okay, maintaining this is not worth the amount of work.

    On Twitter, Cutts acknowledged the update, which perhaps did come as a surprise to him, as it came by the hands of a different team at Google.

    He also mentioned on Twitter that it wasn’t an accident, but “was just easier for them to push the new PR data rather than keep the old data.”

    Cutts tells us:

    Sounds like we’re probably not going to get the frequency of years past.

    Should Google continue to update Toolbar PR in the future? Let us know what you think.

  • Matt Cutts Indicates You Should Not Hold Your Breath For A PageRank Update

    Back in August, we discussed Google’s lack of a toolbar PageRank update, and speculated that it might simply be dead. Based on recent comments by Google’s Matt Cutts, we’re still leaning towards this.

    Barry Schwartz points to a Twitter response from Cutts to a question about it:

    Roughly translated: Don’t hold your breath.

    The last update came in early February. Historically, Google has typically updated the data about every three or four months. Last year, it was updated four times. Obviously things have changed. Even if it’s not dead, it’s even less useful than before, being updated so infrequently. It might as well be dead.

    Cutts said in a video earlier this year, “It might be the case that, it might be such that over time, maybe the PageRank feature is not used by as many people, and so maybe it will go away on its own or eventually we’ll reach the point where we say, ‘Okay, maintaining this is not worth the amount of work.’”

    That time may have already come and gone.

  • Has Google Killed Off Toolbar PageRank? And If Not, Should It?

    We may have reached the end of an era. We haven’t seen anything official, but Google hasn’t been updating Toolbar PageRank, and hasn’t said that it is not killing it. In fact, earlier this year, the company hinted that a time could come that they would kill it. Now, there’s nothing but virtual tumbleweeds in PageRank land.

    Do you think Google should kill Toolbar PageRank or does this still provide value? Share your opinion in the comments.

    Google has not updated its Toolbar PageRank since early February, and that was the only time they’ve done so all year. It’s unlike Google to go so long without updating it, which is leading some to wonder if Google is no longer going to provide this information.

    Barry Scwhartz at Search Engine Roundtable pointed this out after noticing some chatter about it in the WebmasterWorld forum.

    Typically, Google will push an update to this data about every three or four months. Last year, there were four updates, including in February like this year. Last year, however, there were also updates in May and August. August isn’t over yet, of course, but they’ve already skipped May, and August is nearing its end. The last update of 2012 came in November.

    Some people would be happy to see Toolbar PageRank go away. Google has discussed why the company has continued to let it exist. Here’s Matt Cutts talking about it in a video earlier this year, coincidentally (?) around the time of the last update.

    “My rough answer is,” Cutts said. “There are a lot of SEOs and people in search who look at the PageRank toolbar, but there are a ton of regular users as well. You would be really surprised at how many just regular people have the Google Toolbar, and user PageRank as a way to figure out…how reputable at something…I know it seems kind of strange, but it also seems strange that nofollow is only a single digit percentage of links on the web. We get into our tunnel vision, and we sort of say, ‘Oh, well no one else uses the PageRank toolbar,’ but the fact is a lot of people do.”

    “Now, one interesting twist is Chrome doesn’t really have a PageRank toolbar feature built in, and Internet Explorer 10, as I understand it, doesn’t allow toolbars or add-ins, or as Microsoft calls it, it provides an ‘add-in free experience,’ so if IE 10 becomes more popular, eventually it might be the case that the Google Toolbar is not as commonly used, and in that case, it might be the case that, it might be such that over time, maybe the PageRank feature is not used by as many people, and so maybe it will go away on its own or eventually we’ll reach the point where we say, ‘Okay, maintaining this is not worth the amount of work.’” Emphasis added.

    Perhaps Google has now reached that point. They certainly reached it with Google Reader, and that had quite a few users. We’ve reached out to Google for comment, and will update if we hear back

    Update: Google has had plenty of time to get back to us, and has apparently chosen not to. We also reached out to Matt Cutts directly, who has also chosen not to respond. Schwartz also said he was reaching out to the company, and has apparently not yet received a response either. Clearly, Google is just staying quiet on this one.

    This wouldn’t be the first time in recent memory that Google just quietly stopped updating information related to search. There for a while, as you may recall, Google was putting out monthly lists highlighting changes it had made to its algorithms. Eventually, they just started coming out more slowly, but at this point, it will be a year in October since Google has put out one of these lists. To my knowledge (despite my emails to the company), Google has not said why they stopped doing this. Initially, the lists were meant as a way for Google to be more transparent. It seems they decided to turn the transparency knob back a little.

    It could very well be that Google simply hasn’t decided whether to continue on with PageRank updates, but based on Cutts’ comments from earlier this year, it seems inevitable that Toolbar PageRank is going away, or at the very least, becoming even less reliable as a measurement of Google’s view of a site, as the result of fewer updates.

    This probably isn’t going to make people buying domains too thrilled, and people are already afraid of how Google views others’ sites in terms of links. They’re likely to be even more cautious about the domains they choose to buy these days. Perhaps Google simply recognizes this very fact, and doesn’t want people to think Toolbar PageRank should play a significant role in their domain-buying decisions.

    Do you think Google should continue to update the Toolbar PageRank, or should it just go away? Let us know what you think.

    Update: Apparently Barry at least got Google to say it wouldn’t comment on the situation.

    Image: Google (YouTube)