November 13, 2007

"It's time to stop with the complaints about Google's PageRank."

Most search engine optimizers and marketers have been moaning about the same thing for a while now. What exactly have these search engine enthusiasts been complaining about? PageRank, of course.

It's time to stop with the complaints about Google's PageRank. The truth is an obvious one, and it's a shame that it has yet to be accepted. Search engine enthusiasts need to quick stating that PageRank is a load of crap, because it's simply not true.

The truth is that PageRank is useful. PageRank does matter when it comes to SEO and SEM. PageRank motivates webmasters and marketers. And most of all: PageRank creates a level - whether real/accurate or not - that marketers can work with.

One of the biggest misconceptions about Google's PageRank is that it was designed to somehow lead the industry. It was never meant to be anything more than a tool for webmasters and marketers, as well as Google, to use.

That's why, when a SEO or SEM says that PageRank is pointless, they are partially right, but they are mostly wrong. Google created PageRank to help webmasters have a way to measure their work.

There currently is no other tool to measure a website's "authority" with a search engine like Google's PageRank - on any search engine in the world. That alone makes it important to marketers.

You have to stop believing that PageRank is some mystical technology designed to alter search engine results. It's not.

Once you realize that PageRank is simply a tool for visualizing a website's place with Google, it's existence becomes that much more important. And when you realize that you can actually use PageRank to monitor what Google thinks of your marketing strategies, it becomes extremely useful.

Even though it is useful, if you are not using it in the proper way you are wasting your time. You shouldn't focus on PageRank with all of your marketing efforts. The recent PageRank flux should be a big sign to those who do devote all of their efforts to the little green bar.

But remember that PageRank is a great tool, for new marketers and veteran alike. It's currently the only way to visually see where your website stands with the major leading search engine. And it's not useless, or baloney, or stupid, or whatever else you have read it being called.

PageRank is useful. It is helpful. And it is here to stay.