Page Rank - How Does It Work? And few other questions.

[aslamonweb]

Hello Guys,

How does Page Rank work? Should we really worry about PR?

Earlier my website ranked as PR3 and now it is PR0. I have changed my website url from http:// to https:// few months ago. I believe that could have affected my rankings. :(

Quick Questions:
1) Is it something that Google consider https:// as new website?
2) Does SERP's are related to PR?
3) Is there any errors in my website, that needs to be fixed?

Please help!

Thank you in advance!

[goodroi]

Over Simplified Answer: Ignore pagerank, focus on everything else

More Detailed Answer: Use the site search feature to find the thousands of previous discussions that cover all the different aspects on Page Rank and Toolbar Page Rank.

Here are just a few of the threads that have discussed Page Rank
Does Pagerank Play Any Part In A Modern Algorithm ? [webmasterworld.com]
The utility of Google Toolbar PageRank? [webmasterworld.com]
Better PageRank Sculpting [webmasterworld.com]
PageRank vs Rank Monitoring, How to Monitor Website Health? [webmasterworld.com]
"nofollow" links, PageRank, and authority [webmasterworld.com]

[aakk9999]

Earlier my website ranked as PR3 and now it is PR0. I have changed my website url from http:// to https:// few months ago. I believe that could have affected my rankings.

@aslamonweb
When you changed your site from http to https, have you 301 redirected your http pages to their https equivalent? If you have not, this could be the reason for ranking drop (and also possibly for different PR you are seeing, although listen to goodroi and ignore PageRank).

<added>
Google does see https as a separate website, but if you implement 301 redirect, it will know that your http website has moved and https should inherit what Google knows about the old site.
</added>

[phranque]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld, aslamonweb!

you might get some useful information by separately verifying both HTTP: and HTTPS: sites in Google Webmaster Tools.

[aslamonweb]

@goodroi - Thanks for your answer and links. As you said I'll try to focus on other things.

@aakk9999 - Yes. I have done it. I have implemented 301 redirected to my http pages. But wondering why I don't get anything. However, I'll try to concentrate on other areas. Thanks for your inputs.

@phranque - Thank you once again. Glad to be a part of this community. Looking forward to learn more! :)

[vlexo]

Last time Google updated it's toolbar PageRank was in December, 2013. You'll need to wait for Google to update it's toolbar PageRank in order to see any changes to your website's toolbar PageRank.

[JD_Toims]

What everyone said -- Definitely go with aakk9999's suggestion of a 301, and also keep in mind what vlexo said.

An addition to vlexo's post is: TBPR updates have been "cold molasses slow" in the last year+ but *internal* PageRank [the actual calculation used for rankings, rather than the *estimated* TBPR snapshot shown from some previous point in time, which is usually about 3 to 6 months out-of-date] is updated constantly.

IOW, what goodroi said paraphrased: Don' Worry 'Bout It

[sven123]

Nah, Page rank is certainly useful because it can make you easier to get some backlinks, but you shouldn't care too much about it. As long as you make good content and have quality links you're set to go.

For 301, that's to tell googles that you change site and moved the old content to new place. This is a must if you move your site, otherwise google will just see it as an empty/invalid site.

[Planet13]

"Page rank is certainly useful because it can make you easier to get some backlinks..."

How so?