Does Google PageRank Matter In Ranking?

Summary:

Google PageRank – how much weight does it have in your page's ranking? Or does it have any effect at all? These questions are being put up across all webmasters' forums as the search results are telling a different story- high PageRank does not mean higher search engine placement. Things have changed as far as PageRank and its importance is concerned. And changed a lot!

Then- Cut to 1998

Google made the entry on the world wide web scene in 1998, armed with the ability to rank. You had to download a Google Toolbar, to know your PageRank- a number value from 1 to 10 assigned by Google. If Google gave you a higher PageRank- above 5- then you stood a chance of being ranked well for your keywords too. In the years that followed webmasters worried about their PageRank, thinking that if it went down, along would go their organic positioning.

PageRank was calculated on the basis of links, and as a result people started selling links, and links from higher rank sites were sold at high prices. With these manipulations, Google began delaying the PageRank data, so that people would stop fretting with this metric (there was a 6-9 month delay between Page Rank assigned by Google and the publicly available Page Rank).

Google started taking other factors to determine ranking, and PageRank took a backseat.

Now- Back To 2011

Internet Marketers and experts all over the world have given up on relying on the PageRank metric for ranking at all. In fact, some even consider Google Page Rank as completely irrelevant a metric to track. Google it self has made the point pretty obvious- Google's Susan Moskwa has been quoted, “PageRank may have distinguished Google as a search engine when it was founded in 1998; but given [that Google launches] about 9 [improvements] per week on the average - we've had a lot of opportunity to augment and refine our ranking systems over the last decade. PageRank is no longer - if it ever was - the be-all and end-all of ranking.” She said this in a Google Webmaster Central post of June 30, 2011.

There it is- right from the horses mouth- PageRank is no longer the essence of ranking. Google has moved on, and so should you!

The fact remains that High PageRank has no relation with SEO ranking or search results. This has been observed by many that a page with a high PageRank of 8, comes up very poorly in search results. Where as some pages with a PageRank of 0 or 1, will get organic rankings and search traffic for primary keywords.

The social media results or real time search as it is referred to as, also have no connection with PageRank. Search is increasingly social now, and the results that come in the top, those from the social sites, usually have a PageRank as 0 (Page Rank for a tweet or status update is 0). As far as news and related content is concerned, the results on top have dismal PageRank.

There is one clear conclusion here- Page Rank does not affect the search results metric that much- or maybe at all!

So what is it then? What should you focus on if PageRank is out of the scene? Well read on for the same.

If Not PageRank, Then What?

Google algorithm processes many details, while ranking web pages. These are the basic terms that they look at, and some of them are-

• Title Tags
• Anchor Texts
• Link Popularity
• Directory Names
• Keyword Density
• Domain Names
• Page Title
• ALT Tags
• File Names

The factors that you have to keep in mind, post the Panda update is that your site provides excellent, relevant and quality information. The key factors being:

Relevance- Optimize your page for the content on it, and not on anything else. Your page titles, Meta descriptions and the keywords used must fit the bill- be as close and relevant to your site as possible.

Once you do the same, and provide the right information for a keyword, then automatically the visitors will stay on your site and not bounce back. If you get that right, Google will rank you better.

Click-through rate- Your site must be structured in a way that more and more people click on it in the search results. This metric will give you a clear picture, where you stand- if you have what people want. How many times your site showed up in search results and how many times did the users clicked on it.

Conversions and Goal Accomplishments- this metric tells you what did a user do when they arrived on your site, following a keyword. Did they lead to conversions(click on the buy/submit button)? How much effective are the various “call to action” buttons on your page. Then only can you determine whether your direction is right or not! This metric will be better if you get targeted traffic.

Parting Words

PageRank is no longer the most important metric for rankings. What matters now, in the post Panda world, is that your have excellent and latest and relevant content on your page. And that your customers are getting what they come looking for on your site. Mark your web presence by optimizing your site for the quality content you have on it. And also using social media to promote that content, and ensuring that your traffic converts to leads and sales.