As a side note, I wonder also how the digital coop network would distribute weight if there was no toolbar PR?!
Hey I know PR doesn't play much (if any) role in rankings anymore... But its still important. Why? B/c it makes an impression (favorable or not) among visitors to your site who still think PR does matter (which seems to me to be more people than not). This can impact their opinion of your site, and also either gives you leverage or hurts your ability to obtain links, sell advertising, etc. I agree that PR is a terrible, almost useless measure of a site's "value", but since so many others think it is still important than by that very fact - it is.
PR has changed using the API - my coop weight was affected for two sites b/c of the current pr issue.
I manually validated all mine this morning so I at least get to keep the weight for three more days (if it's going to change)
That's true - but it does depend on what service you are trying to sell. If you take my business as an example to earn an income I get this from owners of vacation rentals marketing their property on the site. Owners (no offence) know very little OR know nothing about PR, so to them they would judge my service on the position of the website on the major search engines like Google. Compared to an SEO company where quite rightly the higher PR they have shows highly that the company concerned knows about PR and has many links pointing to it's website. It'll be VERY interesting if PR does disappear but I think it sounds more like a Bank holiday glitch, but what do I know, I'm a webmaster Darren
PR has been used to "manipulatate" rankings - that is a fact! Even if your website is in a "vegetables online" niche, the webmasters owning the top ranked websites probably know what PR is and how they could "use" it to their advantage. At the same time the average surfer probably never cared about "the green thing" in the toolbar or never knew what it was.
No, I am seeing very very good stats where it counts. I mean stuff to be proud of at my level. But I have a long way to go. G has been on my sites like Y. I don't understand it, but love it!
yeh where is the DP hermit seriously though don't spend all bank holiday weekend refreshing your browser to see if the PR has come back lol
Of course not but that is not the point. Nobody said this thread was about losing rankings but about what is happening with the toolbar PR and how it might affect SEO and online businesses.
None should, yet. But if my theories are correct, there will be a hell of an update. My theories won me a great link in the past... http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=9173&page=7&pp=10 http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showpost.php?p=97505&postcount=67 Like candy from a baby.
Sorry if I am sounding padantic, but according to you it is the point. My rankings have been 10x improved in the last few months, and my site has reduce d from PR6 to PR5... Your saying that "PR has been used to "manipulatate" rankings - that is a fact!" From my experience that is not fact. ... but we'll just agree to disagree
You might just have come out of the sandbox in the meantime - maybe that's why your rankings went up. I'll say it again: PR has been used to manipulate rankings, that is a fact. Have a look at some of the websites selling links based on the PR value. For the right money you could buy a few PR6-7 links for ex. and have your rankings jumping up!
lol Im sounding like a broken record... From MY experience this has NEVER been the case, but then it could be down to the fact that my keywords are VERY competitive.
What would that change? If the site is good, it will perform good. We don't need a stat that was called for entertainment value to tell us if we are sucessful. People will have to do things the old fashioned way, sell and have integrety. People will have to work harder to get the free stuff.