Obsessing Over Page Rank? Stop.

Page Rank.  It allegedly tells us how valuable Google believes a site to be.  It theoretically plays a role in how sites are treated with respect to search engine results.  Google won’t let us peek under the hood of its algorithm, but it will let us know an idividual site’s Page Rank.  Thus, it’s not surprising that so many site owners develop more than a passing interest in the those little green bars that express just how “important” a site may be.  They become obsessed.

Is it really a good idea to be that concerned over Page Rank?  Not everyone thinks so, and there are some very good arguments against the development of a Page Rank obsession.

Sites with low Page Rank often outrank those with higher Page Rank.  That should be a clue that PR isn’t the end all, be all of SEO, don’t you think?

Low and no-PR pages can dominate for specific search terms.  This is especially true when you go out and target a long tail keyword.  If you’re one of the only pages out there optimized for the term, there’s a strong likelihood that you’ll outrank even a high-PR site that isn’t exactly on-point.

Sites that get their PR sliced and diced can still experience even more traffic.  If Page Rank is that important, that kind of thing shouldn’t be happening, should it?  Remember, traffic is what we’re all really interested in, after all.

Page Rank is an indicator, not a dispositive factor.  Page Rank represents Google’s assessment of a page’s importance.  Importance is undoubtedly determined by looking at a number of factors, many of which undoubtedly play a role in search engine performance.  However, importance is not the determining factor nor would a look at importance necessarily involve an examination of all factors related to the the highly-complex Google algorithm’s process of determining where to rank a page for a specific search query.  In other words, it has some meaning.  That meaning, however, is only a indicator of how a page might be doing with respect to one part of the SERP calculation process.  

Conclusion?  Enjoy it if it’s high.  Don’t sweat it if it drops a little.  Use it as an indicator, but don’t spend your life obsessing over Page Rank.