Is Google PageRank still important?

When Google started 13 years ago, one of its main features was PageRank (PR), the ability to rank web pages by assigning each a number value from 1 to 10. For years, search engine optimisation has been obsessed with increasing PageRank as a main driver to achieve top search engine rankings. Since its start, Google had a lot of opportunity to augment and refine its algorithms and by its own admission, PageRank is now no longer the be-all and end-all of ranking. Website content, relevancy, traffic, bounce-, click-through- and conversion rates increasingly play a more important role in determining which website will rank well for which search term.

Original Google PageRank explained

Google PageRank is a measure from 0 -10 of how important Google thinks a webpage is. In simple terms,  a web page with a PageRank of 10/10 is very important and a web page with a PageRank of 0/10 is not very important. Generally, in any market niche, websites with higher PageRank will get better rankings in Google's search results. The most important factor in Google’s PageRank calculation, is the amount of quality incoming links a webpage has. Generally the more quality links a webpage has, the higher the PageRank will be, therefore you can increase PageRank by gaining more quality links. But inbound links and PageRank is no longer the sole factor to help get top rankings on Google.

Optimisation beyond PageRank

With recent changes to Google’s algorithm update, your website content, your relevancy to your target audience and getting your visitors to convert are more important than ever before. Here some basic guidelines:

A high PageRank does not mean your website will rank high in Google’s search results.PageRank is only one of hundreds of factors that determine your ranking. PageRank is an easy metric to focus on, but that doesn’t mean it’s useful for you as a site owner.

A higher PageRank does not get your traffic to your website. PageRank alone won’t make you rank higher. You are better off using your time optimising your content for business critical keywords.

PageRank is sometimes only updated once or twice per year.Focusing on PageRank can lead to wrong SEO decisions and will almost certainly inject ‘nervousness’ in your optimisation project. What happens if you focus on PageRang and it does not improve for 12 months? There is a real risk that it distracts you from the metrics that really matter. Goole never discloses the true PageRank, the real number is never published, so you have no meaningful benchmark.

Key optimisation factors

Content relevance: Make sure that your website is the most relevant website for your market, niche, product or service. Please read other posts on content relevancy.

Click-through rate: Google wants all sites listed at the top of their rankings to have high click through rate as it is a sign of high relevancy to the search made. No matter how high your site ranks, if searchers aren't clicking through, you won’t get the traffic and Google is likely to want to show a more relevant page in the future.  

Bounce rate: This is the percentage of visitors who leave your site without clicking on any links. It is another measure of relevancy, i.e. visitors clicked through to your website but did not find what they are looking for. Google wants to show sites in their search listing which are relevant, so users can find what they are looking for. A high bounce rate is a bad signal to Google and a sign of poor relevancy.

Conversion rate: How many times will a visitor buy your goods, fill in a form, opt-in to your mailing list, complete a survey on your website?

Contact us to find out more about PageRank, key search engine optimisation factors and online marketing.