Toolbar PR vs Actual PR

OK, I just heard in another thread the PR you see in the Google toolbar differs from "actual" PR. This may sound dumb but I wasn't aware there was a difference. Suddenly I feel like a newbie all over again. Can someone explain the difference in simple terms of under 3 syllables? Thanks.

 

Another consideration is that toolbar PR you're looking at now comes from only one Data Center - your actual exported PR value may differ between the DCs.

 

This may be of some use.

http://www.myseojourney.com/what-is-a-pr-update

 

toolbar page rank is a number which is mostly updated every 3 months but google algo. is based on the real page rank system and it's a secret

 

One Good example is right here on DP.

The sticky at the top of this forum by "KC TAN" you will see Page 1 & 2 are both Tool Bar PR3, yet you go over to Page 3 and it's Tool Bar PR0.

There's no difference between the 3 pages as they are all directly linked to from the PR5 Google category. Page 3 would in fact be a PR3 just like the others but it missed the Toolbar PR snapshot date back in December.

From this we can also conclude Google took it's snapshot of this section for the January toolbar update sometime between the 28th & 31st of December (after page 2 was created but before page 3 was created)

So.. Check Page 3 after the TBPR update, it should have visible PR3 but right now it would have the same strength as the first 2 pages with PR... In essence showing the difference between "visible" & "actual" pagerank.

Page 1
Page 2
Page 3

 

thanks, l wasnt known toolbar updates only each 3 months

 

Good question. Undoubtedly they have the technology to update backlinks every couple of days just like Yahoo does. I think a lot of it's to do with the hype - Google just like webmasters chattering about PageRank and the attention it gives them.

 

It's to stop people like me manipulating the search results.

If it updated in real time, and i done "abc" and my PR went up 0.5 then done "xyz" and it went up 0.1 it gives instant feedback on what's best and i'm going to do alot more of "abc" arn't i?

It's to help protect the integrity of their algorithm.

 

Thanks for all the responses - I think I understand the differences, which sound like they're mostly related to how up-to-date the PR data is. I'll take my toolbar PR with a grain of salt now. It is weird they only update it every 3 mos. Makes it more of a decoration than anything else

 

There is a difference..the Toolbar sometimes may not be 100% accurate.

 

Actual PR involves numbers much higher than 10.

 

If its not 100% accurate, we got to see the toolbar only everyday. Where to find the Actual PR??? Is it on to search predicted PR, on google search and search on sites offers tools for PR prediction??

 

You will never know it, but perhaps only see the true reflection of what it is in your SERPS.

 

I remember seeing some place where you could check the updated PR across all Google servers, can someone point me in the right direction for that please.

 

You mean actual PR goes to...11?

Time to watch Spinal Tap again