So You Don't Believe in Toolbar PageRank?
Posted On: 2009-11-09
Sometimes I just love Google ... but probably not for the reasons you're thinking of.
Once again it's Monday morning and I've been putting off writing today's column because my brain is out to lunch. Well that's probably not quite right ... my brain was out to lunch as far as writing today's column was concerned but for everything else it was going a million miles an hour.
A major e-commerce site is due for its final appraisal by the client and if it passes then I can hold my hand out for the final payment. Another site needs an update and I want to show that client a few layout ideas later today and Steve is out talking to two more clients who want us to take over their woefully designed sites and turn them into lead generators for them.
Somehow, with all that going on inside my head, I just couldn't focus on anything that was in anyway useful to write about for today's column ... and then along came Google. Ok, so it actually came along with this last week, but a few minutes ago I realized that what happened last week was what I could write about today and that's why I love Google ... but only sometimes.
And what was it that Google came up with last week that gave me something to write about today? Why, an update to it's Toolbar PageRank of course?
Yes, last week Google updated that meaningless little bit of green decoration that it still includes in it's toolbar ... that little green thing that really impresses people who don't understand search engine optimization and drives those of us who do ... and who deal with those who don't ... to total frustration, lots of hard liquor and periods of banging our heads on our desks.
So if you don't believe in Toolbar PageRank then that's good ... that's great ... that's wonderful because nor do I ... in case you hadn't guessed. Now if you're a newcomer to the wonderfully crazy world of webmastering then you're probably wondering what your more experienced brethren do believe in if it's not that little green bar.
How can we tell ... and what can you use ... as an indicator that Google thinks a particular page on your website is important or not if we don't believe in that green bar? There are several things you can use and the first is the cache date ... the date that indicates the last time Google saved the page to its cache. Regular recent caching (something you'll notice if you check your sites every week or so will indicate that Google finds you're site and/or it's pages interesting enough to come back to regularly
You can also get an idea of how important your site or pages are by the number of back links that point to the site or to individual pages ... remember, Google loves links so if you've got a lot of links pointing to your site or to those individual pages then Google is going to love you. While there are a number of tools floating around on the web that will help you check those links I like to use Quirk Search Status ... Majestic SEO can be useful for that too.
The SEOBook toolbar is also quite handy for checking your back links too. You don't have to be a paid up member of the site to use the toolbar they have so grab it and have a play with it. The information you get from that tool bar and from Quirk Search Status will give you a much clearer understanding of what Google thinks of your site than that little bit of green fluff at the top of the page will ever give you.
All those tools are great and they certainly can ... and do ... help you see what Google thinks of your website or the pages that are part of your site but there's one other way of discovering what Google thinks of your site and the individual pages in the site. It's a really simple way of discovering the information you need and you don't need to look at that green bar and you don't need any fancy tools either.
All you need is the front page of Google ... that's it, just the front page of Google and all you have to do when you're on the front page of Google is to enter a search term that's important for your site ... or for individual pages in the site ... into the search box and then look at the results pages that Google returns for your search.
If Google thinks that your website or web page is important it will list it on the first page and it won't matter whether you have a bazillion back links and a green line that rolls right across the page or not. If you're on the first page for a search term that's important for your site then Google obviously thinks that your site has some value for searchers.
Some of our very locally focused mainstream sites have struggled to get more than a Toolbar PageRank of two for several years yet they always pop up on the first page that Google returns for terms that are important for our sites.
So don't be fooled by that green bar because it really is meaningless and the word is that Google will soon remove it from their Toolbar ... and that will be wonderful.