Google On Will They Ever Remove PageRank From The Google Toolbar?

Feb 6, 2013 at 2:42pm ET by Barry Schwartz

Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts, posted a video on YouTube named Why don’t you turn off the PageRank feature in the Google Toolbar?

It is a very fair question, in fact, a question Matt Cutts brought up himself in about five years ago in 2007. But till this day, we have the Google Toolbar with the PageRank indicator in Internet Explorer browsers and others. Google has downplayed the importance of Toolbar PageRank over the years, in fact removing it from Google Webmaster Tools in October 2009.

In the video, Matt said the reason they still have it is not because SEOs use it but rather because searchers and users still use it to determine how “reputable” a web site is.

Matt then goes on to explain that Google’s own browser, Chrome, does not have PageRank built into it. Plus, IE 10 doesn’t allow add ons. So, he wouldn’t be surprised if the PageRank values in the toolbar go away by themselves. He said Google will continue to support it as long as users are using it.

However, Matt added that the “writing is on the wall” for this feature as more and more browsers come out and replace the older versions of the browser.

Here is that video:

For more on this topic, see our comprehensive Google PageRank article.

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: SEO | Top News

About The Author: Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here. For more background information on Barry, see his full bio over here. See more articles by Barry Schwartz

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ezekiel_e

I did not even know about he tool bar. Hum, an going to start using it. Very cool

http://ezekielephotography.com/
Colin Guidi

“Matt said the reason they still have it is not because SEOs use it but
rather because searchers and users still use it to determine how
“reputable” a web site is.”

So by that notion, SEOs should use it and optimize a page for overall SEO, seeing how Cutts is saying this attribute helps users determine a pages reputation…

Personally, I haven’t used the PR from Google in aeons.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Christian-Noel/50205756 Christian Noel

So let me get this straight.

Google claims it cares about things human searchers care about and try to build that into their algo. Apparently, searchers care about PR. However, Google downplays the importance of PR even though searchers tend to see value in it and will only support it as long as users are using it or as long as browsers support it…oh wait Google has cornered the market on browsers as well through Chrome and their stranglehold on Firefox. So I guess users will be using PR for awhile, yet Cutts doesn’t want to lend credence to PR as a signpost either.

I don’t use PR as a primary indicator for SEO, a holistic KPI driven ideology is better but the whole exercise just seems foolish. Frankly, PR was one of the few things Google ever offered that lessened the opaque nature of SEO and made it seem at least a little transparent. I think it offered at least some modicum trust with them. Honestly, PR when it first came out was rather comforting.

At the end of the day, however Google doesn’t care. They care about SEO, but only to the extent that they need to manage what is naturally a fluid content game within a highly visible product. Outside of that they would much rather everyone spend more on PPC.