What is Toolbar PageRank Really Worth?

April 8th, 2010 | 27 comments

what is pagerank worth? If you haven’t noticed, Google did a toolbar PageRank update a few days ago, which has sparked alot of PageRank discussion as it usually does. Buddy Shearer, a long time member of my Internet Marketing Forum, recently asked “If Google gave you a PR4 what would you do with it?”

Since Buddy has been a long time member of my forum, he knows the truth about toolbar pagerank. But he also knows that many people out there still think that toolbar pagerank REALLLLLLY means something, so he is looking to leverage that into something positive.

So what is Google Toolbar PageRank REALLY Worth?

We know on a page by page basis toolbar pagerank is nothing more than just eye candy. But how can we leverage it into something positive?

1. Perceived value and credibility – Many people who are misinformed, believe a high toolbar PageRank means lots of traffic and authority, whereas a low toolbar PageRank means low traffic and low authority. This is simply not true, but MANY people think it is. So the higher the toolbar PageRank your pages have, the higher perceived value your pages will have to those viewers.

2. Increased advertising value - Among several other things that some advertisers will look at is toolbar pagerank, which means you could potentially ask for a little more cash for advertising spots.

3. Increased resale value – Just like it raises the advertising value, it also raises the resale value. Most people would rather buy a PR6 site than they would a PR0 site and most people would pay more for that PR6 than they would for that PR0 even though it has the same exact content, authority etc. Just for that eye candy.

4. Higher listing in some directory type sites – Some sites, particularly web directories, show listings in order from the highest toolbar PageRank to the lowest. So the higher your pagerank, the higher your listing will appear on these sites.

5. And as Milan said in that thread in the forum, it gives you a good chance to brag about it on forums That’s my favorite.

So as you can see, for the most part the actual value of the toolbar PageRank is very low. BUT because many people do not realize how low the actual value of toolbar PageRank is, it actually raises the value, if that makes any sense. In other words, the value that exists is derived from those who are misinformed and believe there is some other kind of value.

However, there is one instance where toolbar PageRank can actually be valuable from a keyword research standpoint.

The ONE thing Toolbar PageRank brings to the Table

If you notice, I use the phrases “for the most part” and “on a page by page basis” alot when referring to toolbar PageRank. That’s because when looking at the average toolbar pagerank of a group of sites in a tight niche, you can actually get a fairly accurate reading of the authority of that group of sites. For more on this, read my easy niche marketing keyword research technique.

I hope this post has helped shed some light on the almighty Toolbar PageRank that is so often explained inaccurately.

img credit: worolf

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27 comments

Kent F (4 comments.)
8th April, 2010 at 4:04 pm

Josh – is there a difference between toolbar page rank and page rank? If I’m really researching heavily – I’ll check out the backlinks on a competing site. If the links are all obscure and low-end, I don’t sweat it a whole lot.

Kent F.
Josh Spaulding
8th April, 2010 at 4:05 pm

Hi Kent, yes there is a difference. Toolbar PageRank is inaccurate and everyone can see it. Real PageRank is actually what Google uses to rank pages and can’t be seen by anyone outside of a few at Google.
Rika Susan's Juicing For Weight Loss (23 comments.)
8th April, 2010 at 4:12 pm

Josh, thanks for an interesting take on toolbar pagerank. Yes, it will always be something to brag about if it’s high! But when it drops, we love saying that it wasn’t worth much anyway! Works both ways…
David Martin (7 comments.)
8th April, 2010 at 4:17 pm

Thanks for this Josh. My Jesus site is now a PR3 and climbing which is pretty cool, trouble is most of my readers would’t have a clue what Page Rank is any ways! lol
Matt (1 comments.)
8th April, 2010 at 4:27 pm

Good job nice report!
I like to think PR is like a little pat on the back for doing a good job:)

but at the end of the day it’s not really going to make u more money …but nice
pradeep (1 comments.)
8th April, 2010 at 4:46 pm

Hi Josh,

Very similar logic was provided in this article about 5 reasons why toolbar pagerank matters

http://binaryday.com/2009/07/04/5-reasons-why-toolbar-pagerank-is-still-important/
Milan
8th April, 2010 at 4:47 pm

Lol Josh. Thanks for mentioning me.
Mark Myhre (1 comments.)
8th April, 2010 at 5:06 pm

Google took my (their?) toolbar page rank away from one of my sites over a year ago, but my traffic never suffered in any way. I still get about 1000 unique visitors per day to that site.

Oh, and I have no idea why they took it away, either.
Buddy (4 comments.)
8th April, 2010 at 5:10 pm

LOL. Thanks for the mention. i hope this comment and link doesn’t D-I-L-U-T-E my PageRank for my site. LOL

Great article by the way. You actually had two that never crossed my mind.

Thumbs up to you!
Terence (2 comments.)
8th April, 2010 at 5:39 pm

I think many webmasters are a little obsessed with that little green bar, and I must admit I have a habit of looking at it when I am on someone’s site – including yours Josh

We all know that a high page rank doesn’t necessarily mean the site is good as some people adopt blackhat tactics to boost it.

I have one particular high-ranking domain with lots of good content and steady traffic but it is still stuck with a measly page rank of 1.

No idea why it is so low but that’s the way it is.
Vegar
8th April, 2010 at 6:05 pm

You forgot one: Since everyone is looking at their competitions PR before deciding to compete in the search results it does have some competitive benefits.

If you have a high PR on the page for your most important keywords, you will scare away a lot of competition.
Trent Brownrigg (1 comments.)
8th April, 2010 at 9:04 pm

I think another positive thing about having high PR, which kind of goes along with your first point of perceived value, is that it makes it easier to get links. Other site owners are more willing to link to you because they see your site as having more authority and also because they are hoping you will link back. It’s kind of a catch 22… you need links get a high PR but it’s harder to get them if you don’t have a high PR already.
darin (1 comments.)
8th April, 2010 at 10:13 pm

Is’nt page rank just a reflection of how often Google crawls your site? From what i have read the higher the PR the more google visits you to see if you have added new content
Linda (8 comments.)
9th April, 2010 at 2:13 am

Hi Josh I agree that too many people think page rank is the be all and end all, and like you say it doesn’t really account for much unless you’re selling the site (higher percieved value) or get ads placed on it – again the higher percieved value factor comes in.
Chuck Davis (1 comments.)
9th April, 2010 at 5:09 am

Thanks for your informative post. When I first got you Article Marketing domination, I wondered what PR was. I soon found it but wasn’t sure what it was for beyond using it for keyword research. Thanks for letting me know that it really is nothing except for keywords. I was told that Google came up with the rank due to the number of backlinks a site has. Is that true?
Grateful Al (3 comments.)
9th April, 2010 at 6:00 am

I was led to believe the higher PR the better link juice to be had. “Spend your efforts on finding ‘do-follow’ links with high PR.”
It’s like something that Moses brought down off the mountain, and written in stone, no less.
Claudia
9th April, 2010 at 7:06 am

My site just got a PR3 and while I was celebrating my little success my husband asked what that 3 now was good for.
Hmm…
The direct impact I saw was that I am getting a lot more spam comments now!
Stef (53 comments.)
9th April, 2010 at 8:35 am

If you sell links, you can always laugh to the bank when your PR is high

Sad for the good sites that don’t have a high PR ;-(
Loretta (2 comments.)
9th April, 2010 at 9:55 am

I used to fret over the little green pixels that Google gave me … now I ignore it completely.

I checked it out over the weekend because everyone was saying that there was an update and I found a few extra green pixels… then I wondered to myself, “What the heck am I supposed to do with these?”
Angie (45 comments.)
9th April, 2010 at 11:28 am

I was always checking my PR and Alexa rankings when I first started building my websites. Now, I forget about them for months at a time. It’s always nice when I notice a jump, but I don’t really stress over it one way or the other. I’m happiest when my traffic increases. Interesting thoughts, though.
DebtCreditTips
9th April, 2010 at 2:47 pm

You’re right Josh. My site went from PR0 to PR4. I was shocked. The thing is that there are relatively few backlinks. The content I have is all unique though and I have received a number of compliments on my blog. One thing I did manage to do was to give good comments on other high PR blogs which in turn gave me high PR “dofollow” backlinks. Still, I’m a little surprised that the PR climbed so high and so fast. No complaints though.

Joe
Warren (10 comments.)
9th April, 2010 at 2:48 pm

It’s interesting what our “mental” value of things are. If we only knew what the TRUE value of many things are, we would walk quit different, I’m thinkin.
Thanks for the time to inform us.
Allyn (16 comments.)
10th April, 2010 at 6:08 pm

I think pagerank matters ALOT! but not on my site, rather on the pages from other sites that link TO me with my anchored keyword.
I am glad most people do not understand this concept… it lessens the competition.
AL
Milan
11th April, 2010 at 10:03 pm

Allyn, the concept is still valid and important, but the only number you can get can be outdated. Also, If you read the original forum thread you’ll see that it was about “If you woke up today and saw that your site had a PR4 what would you do with it…”
Ann @ How To Make A Website (13 comments.)
14th April, 2010 at 7:29 am

I agree with you completely Josh, and unfortunately PR still stirs so many of the uninformed marketers, but one thing is sure, for those selling links, PR can bring a lot more cash to the table.
Jared Detroit (9 comments.)
15th April, 2010 at 1:49 am

I saw a decrease in my Page Rank from 3 to 2. In the same time period, I saw my traffic double and my rank increase on keywords specific to my industry. At first I was upset but then I realized the Page rank drop really isn’t related to the metrics I want to track…
Indexed Results
18th April, 2010 at 4:09 pm

A few years ago I would focus my seo/sem efforts on improving pagerank as all the forums had commentators who regarded a high page rank as the holy grail. Now I have a glance at page rank but nothing more than that. I refer to other metrics such as trifecta by seomoz and alexa traffic rank. My main focus is on visitors, conversion rates and ultimately sales with the other metrics being a supporting cast.