Maybe you are tired of hearing about PageRank. I know that I am, so I thought I would give it a little attention to help others who don’t quite understand it. Then when everyone understands, we can stop talking about PageRank.
Does PageRank Matter?
One of the first things you read and hear when starting a blog is that “Everything hinges on your PageRank. Without a high PageRank, your blog amounts to nothing.”
What is PageRank?
PageRank, named after Larry Page, is an algorithm used by the Google Internet search engine. It analyzes each website and blog as a hyperlinked page in the World Wide Web and assigns a number to rank and measure the importance of the page. The more important the page, the higher the number on a scale from one to ten.
Times have changed and eventually people and advertisers are going to catch up with the times. Often I start to think that people have OCD-Page-Rank-itis. I used to be just like them, but I’ve overcome the horrible infection. I might be able to help you get over it too if you continue to read.
One of my main deterrents of switching to my own domain was that I knew I would lose my PageRank 4 status and maybe forever. I also knew that my Alexa rank would drop from 212,000, but this is a recoverable number and continues to increase every day – thankfully. Even so, PageRank value really bothered me and I waivered with my domain decision.
Should I switch to my own domain?
Should I not switch to my own domain?
As you know, eventually I decided that the pros far out weighed the cons of switching so I took the plunge. I think my mind was made up while surfing the internet one day. I was in the Google Help Forums and read a comment from October 15, 2009, by Google employee Susan Moskwa which confirmed that the company had removed PageRank from its Webmaster Tools section.:
- We’ve been telling people for a long time that they shouldn’t focus on PageRank so much; many site owners seem to think it’s the most important metric for them to track, which is simply not true. We removed it because we felt it was silly to tell people not to think about it, but then to show them the data, implying that they should look at it.
If you read further, it also states in another thread:
- If you’re looking for metrics, we’d encourage you to check out Analytics, think about conversion rates, ROI (return on investment), relevancy, or other metrics that actually correlate to meaningful gains for your website or business.
I also learned from Search Engine Roundtable that Only 13% Say Google PageRank is “Very Important” which is a good sign that eventually the message will soak into everyone’s psyche. It is important to note that currently Search Engine Roundtable pulls an Alexa rating of #6,582. I would say they are doing an excellent job.
That was really enough for me.
Stop spending so much time analyzing PageRank
Yes, I will say it again…Stop worrying about PageRank. Do as it has been suggested by many others – focus on:
- traffic analytics
- conversion rates
- ROI (return on investment)
- relevancy
- interesting posts
- great grammar
- great HTML coding
- taking great photos to highlight your posts
This holds true especially if you want to make money with your blog. You must spend time in strategizing, analyzing and implementing changes that work. There are many other tools to use to determine the success. I know you’re thinking that sounds like a lot of work. Well, it is quite a bit of work, but if your final goal is to have a better blog or a successful website, it is totally mandatory.
Can you be successful?
Did you really want to ask me that question? Of course you can do it! Have you already forgotten about Willard Wigan?
Yes, you can be successful at anything you put your mind to accomplishing.
of all you are on
what you have a
burning desire to achieve.”
~Wilfred Peterson~
The last “Woo Us To Your Blog” post explained in detail and with pictures how to change your domain and the fact that it is probably much cheaper than you think. Have you changed to your own domain yet?
As always, attached is the weekly Linky to enter either the main URL to your site or add each post you publish throughout the week. You don’t have to do anything special, just drop your link(s) in and get a little extra exposure to your site – as many of your blogs as you would like to link and as many individual posts as you desire to link.
Until next week’s wooing post, just forget about PageRank and change your domain today.
Too funny that you should write about this today. I just joined a community group that asked what my Google page rank was… it's 1 and I don't care. LOL I know my blog is better than that, and I take more time with the items you mentioned above rather than fret over my Google PR. 😉
Thanks for the linky too, and Happy New Year!!
I'm with you. I used to stress out so much about pagerank, until they took mine away. I was a PR4. I didn't realize that using sites like payperpost was against their TOU and they knocked me down to 0. I stopped using them and have built back up to a PR3 – which has taken forever, but I didn't lose any of my ad dollars, I didn't lose anything really. I don't focus on it anymore. It was stressing me out too much.
After 5 months with all original content and beautiful new art, I still have PR of 0. I have not used any pay-per-post, but I do use EntreCard. My Alexa has been dropping steadily, now 432,000. So why can't I get it above zero? There is one blog directory that requires PR to be at least 1. I just want to get into the game at least.
I've never heard of pagerank. Hmm….have no idea what your numbers mean, lol….I'm just glad I found you somehow. great blog 🙂
And see…What is Alexa rank? It has everyone wondering and others trying not to think about it.
I admit I am still confused. If I google search my twitter name, I have a first page showing. I link to some blogs with my twitter name and others my URL. On all comments I use MusingMom6 w/o the @ and any of it will come up.
Go figure!?!?