Is Google PR really needed?

Whats your thoughts on Google's PageRank for websites? Is it really needed? Well to me PR is not that important, but I would still like to have a PR as many people still think its important. But what I hate about Google's PR is that it takes them months/years to update their PageRank, so many sites that are doing great, cant get a pagerank. Im sure if google would update their PR, adminbb would get a PR. So what your thoughts?

 

I like the idea im 2nd with Islands LOL

 

It takes them forever to update it, so I think they would probably be better phasing it out and replacing it with some other system or something really.

 

I know right because, people think their sites valued alot if it has a PR, but they never update it so its stuck there, and other sites cant get a PR. Its not fair to the people who created their sites after the last PR update.

 

yea, PH was sitting at PR-0 for quite some time after I switched to using the full .plutohosting.net domain for the main site, the short domain used for clients sub-domains sat at PR-1 for a little while, but the rank lost when the redirect was made.

 

Im sure adminbb will receive a PR when they update, because the domain is very seo friendly, and its has good key terms.

 

PR is generally updated every 3-4 months, however, the most recent update took almost a year but many people saw the results they were looking for. I got a PR 0 site to a PR 3 and another to a PR 4. It really depends on external factors though. Your site doesn't have to be greatly search engine friendly; in fact a parked domain can get a PR5 if they have quality backlinks pointing towards them.

However, PR is really not important as it doesn't define the success of a site. Google probably has realized what a monster it has created. People are exploiting PR in a way that it is of no worth anymore, although having a PR 5+ is still an achievement. SERPs is far more important as well as your general traffic towards your site, which is what you want to be looking for.

 

Very well explained David

 

so your site must be PR oriented for people to visit the site??

 

I don't think so, people visit sites because of their content, not their page rank...It's just an excuse for the owner to charge more for advertisement spots, etc.

 

Yea, and they feel its valued more also. But its really not.

 

For selling your site, absolutely. But other than that, I think it's just there for bragging rights. I'm not discounting the fact that Google puts some weight on it, but it's not as big of a factor as, say, your content.

 

I agree, I hate when people brag about it and their site has barely nothing and yet its a has a PR 3.

 

Not at all. In fact, if you consider Google rankings for search terms (SERPs), then PR is a small factor out of at least 200 which are considered. Even your site speed is now considered in how well you rank on Google. PR infers backlinks which can be more for than just search engines; users can also find your site via those backlinks, so I wouldn't be PR oriented, but rather searching for ways for users to find your site, meaning backlinks is a factor.

 

PR doesn't matter at all really unless you're selling the domain. Even then that's not the most important factor in price.

 

It shouldn't considering how old it is, and how long its been since google updated.

 

Do consider how a site can gain a high PR. It requires quality links and these quality links can have the potential to drive in traffic. If you lose your PR, you'd be losing links therefore losing potential traffic. Either way, having a good mix of everything is going to help you drive sales up, even the misleading Alexa.

 

Yes I know that, but why should it matter if google doaen't update it for almost a year now? So basically its outdated. Its just a number, there can be crappy sites or domans with High PRs and I've seen many... so its kind of a like a monster google created here which people think that if you have a high PR your site is better than other ones.

 

Although there is dispute, it was updated in January 2011, with two of my domains gaining a PR3 (from PR0). Technically it updates constantly, but a "visual" PR update should only happen every 3-4 months. However, with the "Panda" update of Google's algorithm, I think they've relaxed on PR and focused on content control and the levels of quality presented in search rankings.

Either way, having a high PR infers quality links, and therefore you have the potential to gain traffic through those links. So maybe the PR itself isn't what's important, but rather what it can bring, and many domainers do consider that.

 

Well said!

Don't worry about PR much, worry about where it ranks.