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Don't be suckered in by it
Yesterday I pondered the question of whether or not the guys at Google had given any thought to where their wonderful algorithm and its dependency on links might take them in the future. It seems to be a question that others are considering too ... and with good cause.

As I suggested yesterday, it doesn't take a whole lot of intelligence to realize that if you place great store on something then one day it's going to become valuable. Of course, it might not take a whole lot of intelligence but it does take a reasonable amount of common sense to understand what would happen.

As one SEO practitioner we know wrote in his blog over-night:

'Even as early as 1998 some thought was given to the impact that commercial interests would have on their search engine algorithm, as evidenced by the following quote,

'At worst, you can have manipulation in the form of buying advertisements (links) on important sites. But, this seems well under control since it costs money.' - From, Bringing Order To The Web -1998

That woefully short sighted observation should have been a warning to everyone that Google's idealistic creators had no idea the impact their search engine would have on e-commerce ...'

But the Google boys didn't stop there and once again we ordinary webmasters are left to struggle with the results of their lack of understanding of the impact of another of their 'great' ideas -that horrible little green bar otherwise known as Page Rank.

When they introduced that cute little green bar they really were unleashing a monster and even today it's got an attraction that too many webmasters can't resist. Look around any webmaster board and you will see people asking for others to trade links with them based mostly on that green bar.

'Hey I've got a PR6 come and trade with me'

All that statements like really say is 'Hey come and trade links with me because I'm totally clueless'. And why are they totally clueless? Because PR is now of little value when it comes to how much worth your site really has.

Sure, there was a time when the PR number was important. It was a clear indication of exactly what Google thought of your page and the bigger the PR number the more 'weight' your page had. But those days are gone. Google even tells us that those PR numbers have been devalued to the point where they are all but meaningless.

Yet we still see lots of people who claim guru status when it comes to search engine optimization and who claim that PR is important. Only today an issue of Site Pro News turned up in my inbox. The article was written by someone who claims to be a 'full-time on-line marketer' and who stresses that he has a PR6 page as his main site.

Wow, a PR6 now how good is that?

Well, from my own experience I can tell you that a site with a much lower PR rank can be far more effective in the search engines than a PR6 page. I'll even tell you just how effective they can be.

We have a site that deals with our local area. Competition for a variety of local terms is certainly not as fierce as it might be in larger areas ... but there is still competition and sometimes that competition can turn rather dirty. However, I digress so let's get back to our little PR3 site. It's in competition with some big out-of-town sites that really do pack a punch if all you're looking at is that little green bar.

But then that green bar is meaningless, it doesn't indicate the real punch a site may pack at all. Remember, it's been devalued by Google. It's now got to the point where you shouldn't think in terms of that green bar at all. Why?

Because our little PR3 site can hit the front page of Google for a local term within four hours of it appearing in a post on the site and it will stay there for more than just a day or two. At the same time, if we've used that term as anchor text for a local business site the local business gets pulled into the first page of the Google SERPS as well.

And both our site, and the site we linked to, will rank above those heavy hitters with the big PR numbers. That site will go on ranking above the 'big guys' because we've built a site that is based on the real factors that influence search engine ranking and haven't been suckered in by that horrible green bar.

Now if you don't believe me then go out and experiment as we did, assess the results as we did and build on them. You may be surprised to find that you get the same results we did and continue to do.

However, whatever you choose to do to build your sites up into good positions in the search engines, forget about PR and pay no attention to those who want to tell you that it's still important. Let others stake their business on that little green bar while you get the jump on them.