Page Rank - is it really dead?

[Malcolm Cowley]

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Hi

Just wondered what others thought about PR being dead?

I have had a few emails recently as an affiliate letting me know that of course its fine that the site wanting a PR 5 link from me has PR 0 as page rank is dead.

I think its less relevant than it was but would also think its still included in the overall scoring even at a reduced level - am I wrong to think this?

If it is completely dead thats a google choice and tomorrow it could be revived so it would still be worth looking for decent PR links in case of that eventuality - or no?

Will be interesting to see what some of you full timers think about this.

Mal

[drivetowin]

Personally I don't think PR is dead but I do think it is much less important in ranking than it used to be - like many I guess I used to chase page rank but now dont get bothered about it - I've got a PR2 site which receives many times the traffic (and links higher for related keywords) than two of my PR5 sites and one of my sites has dropped from PR5 to PR3 but now gets about five times as much traffic as it used to - go figure!!

[Brains]

I've never bothered with this. Nor do I actively seek links from other sites. Yet one of my new sites has PR4, gets 500,000 visits a month and ranks top for keywords on Google across several pages.

If I did bother with PR, links etc would I notice an increase?

BRAINS

[Elaine]

never bothered much about the whole PR thing - it never changes on my site - even when most of it ended up in the supplemental results last winter and had hardly any visitors whatsoever - still the same as when I'm flying high and getting tons and tons of hits.

The only criteria I use for linking is if the site is relevant to mine or not - don't even insist or check for reciprocal links.

[eskimo]

I agree PR has diminshed in influence. I've heard it said that it is only used to break a tie, if two pages rank in exactly the same postion. Personally, I just use it to make sure I'm not linking to a page google would consider bad.

There has been suggestion that trustrank will have a bigger input in the future, so it becomes more a matter of who links to you rather, than how many.

A good idea might be if Google gave less weight to links which open in a new window.

[drivetowin]

A good idea might be if Google gave less weight to links which open in a new window.

Not quite sure I understand the logic behind that one - I open all external links in a new window, its no reflection on how highly I rate the site I'm linking to, just I'd like to hope I've got another bite at the cherry when the visitor has finished looking at that site - I link to lots of sites I like, but I dont like any of them enough to lose my visitor forever.

[pistol101]

when attracting links to your site the most important thing to remember is that these sites will attract visitors. Yes Google may help your ranking, but forget that for now.....visitors make you money.

[Brendon]

We just had a right food fight about this over at Threadwatch

Good thread, lots of controversy, and some heavyweight names weighing in. Normal service will now be resumed

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