PageRank broken – is it time to introduce BrinRank?

It’s virtually impossible to navigate your way through a blog or forum on the topic of SEO (even a lot that aren’t) without seeing a post about the second Google PageRank updates (or more accurately downgrades) for the month.

Basically what has happened is a lot of blogs and directories that promote the selling or buying of links; display sponsored or paid listings on their sites; or basically appear to have an inflated ranking possibly caused through gaming the system using effective optimisation techniques have now dropped two or three points of PageRank.

This topic has been discussed openly for the last month and there have been heated debates on whether or not Google were bluffing when they said they would start penalizing sites for engaging in such activities… as well as many debates about whether or not Google have the right to say what you can and can’t do on your own website.

So now a lot of people who made money from such activities, webmasters who don’t really know what PageRank means (but know it is important), and novice SEOs that think that the little green PR score in their Google Toolbar is the be-all-and-end-all, are crying themselves to sleep at night wondering why Google is being so harsh and punishing them.

I’m sick of it!

Here’s the thing – having a high PageRank does not:

• improve your rankings
• generate more traffic to your site
• mean you actually have a high PageRank (because it’s updated so infrequently anymore anyway and even the PR that we can see isn’t necessarily anywhere near what your real rank is)

If anything, these updates have been an absolute goldmine to the sites penalized due to the number of highly relevant inbound links they have now received from every blog in the SEO world talking about it.

So my advice to everyone obsessing over the PageRank updates:

1. Stop it
2. Start reading blogs like SEObook and SEO By The Sea because with the combination of Bill’s research and Aaron’s rants you should gain a better understanding of what really matters in search industry…
3. And if you really want something to obsess about – start trying to figure-out what ranking system Google will come-up with next (because I’m sure there has to be something going on in the plex)

Maybe the title of this post isn’t as far-fetched as it seems? I’d be really interested in hearing what everyone else thinks.