So, I don't obsess over the Google page rank of individual pages or even my sites, but I do check every once in a while out of curiosity. If my rank changes during the periodic updates of the "toolbar page rank" (TBPR), it shows I'm moving the needle, for better or worse. Though that can be better seen in my traffic numbers and Google's contribution to them, the 0-10 scale of the page rank still feels solid and meaningful. It's also a good way to check the "reputation" of another site looking for a link trade or content partnership. It's also used at sites like PayPerPost to determine which offers your site qualifies for. So, while TBPR is not an end all or be all, it's useful.
It's for this reason that I'm wondering WTFIU with Google. They haven't updated the TBPR in over 5 months. If you look at this chart, it shows that Google averaged near their claimed "quarterly update" timeframe for quite a while. The longest they'd gone between updates previously was 122 days, and they normally didn't go longer than 111 days. But as of today, it's been 158 days since their last update, well over 5 months.
Now, if you check Matt Cutts' blog for TBPR, you'll find that up through around January, he'd confirm or mention a TBPR update. On the last one, though, he got called on ignoring it and admitted to it, claiming there had been one "a week or two ago". Basically, the unofficial SEO and pagerank mouthpiece for Google was showing a distinct lack of giving a hoot when it came to the last update.
Google's pushing a record gap between updates 30% bigger than its previous record gap. Matt Cutts hasn't mentioned TBPR in months, and the last time he did, it was not only in response to a user comment, he gave an approximate date of "a week or two ago" instead of the exact dates he normally gives.
Is the toolbar page rank dead and Google just hasn't bothered to update it out of the toolbar or announce it to the world? Is Google working on a replacement for it and letting it languish during the wait for the replacement to roll out? Or is Google just copping even more of a "we're Google and we don't have to answer to anyone" attitude?
So, in a nutshell... Is the toolbar page rank dead, pending replacement, or just being ignored? Google? Matt?
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[...] Even if our efforts are successful in increasing a page’s PR, what tangible benefit will this bring to the business? No one I know has yet been able to pay their electric bill with PR. More Links Why Google PageRank Doesn't Matter PageRank is Dead (by Jeremy Zawodny) Brain Handles » Blog Archive » Google: Is Page Rank Dead? My Conclusion to this Research. PR doesnot carries much Value as the algorithms used online are not should we say 'efficient' in keeping to the standards of the Google itself. The update goes On and On every minute, and we get updates every 6 Months (When the staff actually bothers to update the actual Google Toolbar). So in my opinion its characterstic significance for Link Exchange and Link Building to achieve good SEO Rankings is dieing away. Message From Geekpoint.net Team [...]