Does PageRank (PR) Still Matter?

As stated by Google Webmaster Trends Analyst Susan Moskwa, Google Pagerank (PR) has already been dropped from the roll of more or less 200 Google Ranking Factors. Whether true or Google has just been bluffing around about their old-aged algorithm, the alleged desertion of the PageRank (PR) Algorithm could greatly affect the techniques and strategies used in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), in particular, and to the internet marketing campaign of every business website, in general.

The main reason for the proposition of abandoning PageRank is the rampant link buying over the internet. As Google greatly discourages paid links to dominate search engine rankings on the search engine results pages (SERPs), the declaration of discarding PageRank Algorithm could be an effective scheme. However, before adjusting the SEO campaign to entertain this declaration, the following considerations might help one to evaluate if PageRank Algorithm still matters:

1. The PageRank is still activated on every page in the web. This means that the algorithm still exists and every page is being evaluated based on their page value in the World Wide Web.

2. There is a very recent PageRank Update on every page of the web. Although Google’s major PR update is expected to occur during last week of September or first week of October, the latest PR results had been observed last week of October. Imagine the database resources being allocated for this algorithm that Google has allegedly abandoned.

3. The recent PR update is still a very powerful tool for web marketers and internet users around the world to evaluate the authority value of every page in the web. PR value is being closely associated to page credibility.

4. Whether Google is just downplaying the importance of Pagerank in the their SERPs, every little bit of the entire Google Ranking Algorithm could mean a lot in indexing pages of their relevance to every target keyword (especially highly competitive keywords).

5. The PageRank Algorithm could be the first algorithm when spider-based search engine Google has been conceptualized. Taking out a major algorithm for the entire ranking system could mean a lot of work in the sensitivity analysis for their ranking results.