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the death of displayed PR will only give rise to an industry of seo snakeoil salesmen that will dwarf the link merchants.They are already out there, and were there before the toolbar was invented.
You all managed before the toolbar and you will manage without it, get a grip on yourselves, stop being toolbar junkies.
I'm running Firefox, and installed a toolbar extensions. Like others, I'm seeing Google PR greyed out now.
I don't know how the G-PR bar actually works, but doesn't the extension or toolbar have to make a
SEPARATE inquiry to G to get the data?
If so, then maybe all those extra queries put too much of an extra load on their servers / bandwidth.Since there's no obvious payback, cutting out toolbar PR might just be a simple cost / bandwidth saving
stragegem. Their internal (real) pagerank would remain in place, subject to algorithm tweeks,
and hidden from all in any case. Any thoughts on that? -Larry
I doubt this theory. This is Google we are talking about. Not a moms & pops site...Google has datacenters and extremely good load balancing. They serve billions of search request, I can't see them having a problem with PR request or bandwidth.
I really find it hard to believe that Google would drop PageRank without making a MAJOR announcement to go along with it. I'm actually a little surprised that so many WebmasterWorld members are speculating this is what happened.
Google is a public company now ... they don't go making major changes to their system without a press release. Millions use the Google toolbar, not just webmasters, so it's highly unlikely that PageRank would be phased out of the toolbar without an announcement. Besides, many of us in this forum are Google shareholders and if Google had planned to drop PR we would know about it. This is a temporary situation or an upgrade, not an elimination.Also keep in mind that Google still has numerous references to PageRank on their site, including the "PageRank Explained" information on google.com/technology. If they were doing away with it, that page wouldn't be there anymore.
This is not a major change for Google or its investors. Google does not profit from PR. This is a major change for many webmasters and SEO's because this is how some prove that their site is popular and well-liked by Google. Many shady and questionable webmasters/SEO's profit from Google PR, which is a violation of Google terms. Google has long become frustrated with these attempts by webmasters/SEO's and possibly simply realized that PR is not a neccessity and never has been, therefore disabling it will be for the good. It was only meant to be informational and not profitable as some has made it. Since Google does not profit from it, then it does not have to be a decision which needs to be commented on or a decision which needs to be voted on by shareholders. The change is rather small in Google's overall enterprise, probably not even a departmental change.
They wouldn't need to, but common curtesy would be expected don't you think? Which makes me wonder if some thing else is not under way.
I really find it hard to believe that Google would drop PageRank without making a MAJOR announcement to go along with it. I'm actually a little surprised that so many WebmasterWorld members are speculating this is what happened.Google is a public company now ... they don't go making major changes to their system without a press release. Millions use the Google toolbar, not just webmasters, so it's highly unlikely that PageRank would be phased out of the toolbar without an announcement. Besides, many of us in this forum are Google shareholders and if Google had planned to drop PR we would know about it. This is a temporary situation or an upgrade, not an elimination.
I'm not nearly as knowledgeable as most of you here when it comes to seo (etc) but ^^that^^ quote makes sense. Even if it has nothing to do with money it's stupid to not give the webmaster world a heads up on the situation. You guys are their lifeblood. It's not very nice if they didn't tell you and let you prepare.
I mean this IS a major weekend for most people to have a big party, cook some ribs among friends, thank a fellow veteran or go camping. NOT sit at their computers and speculate.
You’d think that it's going to be a major upgrade for this very reason. Half of you should be at the lake, not behind your computer stressing.
Unfortunately any time is a bad time for most of you so when else are they supposed to a possible upgrade?
Have a beer and enjoy monday. If PR goes away for good then you'll adapt.
[edited by: Woz at 4:57 am (utc) on May 30, 2005]
[edit reason] Tidying up. [/edit]
Gone are those freebie tools.
Losers
High PR selling sites
Buy/Sell text link type companies
All those SEOs who think PR is everything
SEOs who might have to deliver something for a change instead of PR
Link building schemes based on PR
Spam
Free tools (counters..etc)
Google Toolbar
Winners
Real SEO
Google SERP
Regular Webmaster
Webmaster World
I hope PR goes for good.
Wemasters might actually start learning and developing instead of pursuing some green bar.
11:08 pm on May 29, 2005 (utc -5)I really find it hard to believe that Google would drop PageRank without making a MAJOR announcement to go along with it. I'm actually a little surprised that so many WebmasterWorld members are speculating this is what happened.
Google is a public company now ... they don't go making major changes to their system without a press release. Millions use the Google toolbar, not just webmasters, so it's highly unlikely that PageRank would be phased out of the toolbar without an announcement. Besides, many of us in this forum are Google shareholders and if Google had planned to drop PR we would know about it. This is a temporary situation or an upgrade, not an elimination.
I'm not nearly as knowledgeable as most of you here when it comes to seo (etc) but ^^that^^ quote makes sense. Even if it has nothing to do with money it's stupid to not give the webmaster world a heads up on the situation. You guys are their lifeblood. It's a dick to the face if they didn't tell you and let you prepare.
I mean this IS a major weekend for most people to have a big party, cook some ribs among friends, thank a fellow veteran or go camping. NOT sit at their computers and speculate.
You’d think that it's going to be a major upgrade for this very reason. Half of you should be at the lake, not behind your computer stressing.
Unfortunately any time is a bad time for most of you so when else are they supposed to a possible upgrade?
Have a beer and enjoy monday. If PR goes away for good then you'll adapt.
This is exactly why Google has not commented or said anything and the reason why they shouldn't...because those webmasters/SEO's who feel they have lost money because of this. That was never the intention of PR, it should have never been anyone's lifeblood...it should only been use as an informational service. Google should not care about those who violate their terms and use the PR as a money-making scheme. The PR cuts too much into Google's algorithm and gives webmasters/SEO's more speculation room, by doing away with it, it kills a lot of leechers. The PR tool has been abused for a long while now and getting rid of it would be the best thing they could do. This will make the web get back to its roots and webmasters/SEO's will have to build sites naturally...link schemes don't matter as much. You even notice a drop all across the board this past weekend. Not many advertisers searching for PR sites this weekend (haha). This will take certain sites out of the loop altogether who rely on link building or Google PR. It will be very interesting to see what happens in the coming weeks...if Google PR stays dead....I'll be checking #*$!edcompany.com for sites that have gone away.
In short, it is not Google responsibility to inform wrong doers so they can prepare themselves. If you had an free informational service which became popular and then leechers found a way to make money from it...you will not feel the burden to tell the leechers that you are doing away with the service...its not your responsibility. They did not use the service as intended and have abused it...therefore, they will only be liable for their improper actions.
In my opinion it would be nice if those were the last days for google PR. Time to start something new, google had enough. They were ment to make the net better, and they did so at the beginning but now it's all getting worse.
Why do we have text link brokers? Page Rank
Why do we have scraper sites? Adsense
Why do we have junk in the SERPS? bought page rank, scraper sites, made for adsense sites.
Why do we have these sites? Google.
End of Story.
Mack.
