The Google algorithm is a multi-part, shrouded secret. Nonetheless, SEOs have managed to exploit a significant piece of Google's "importance" algorithm - the part of the equation responsible for ranking closely related content. With billions of web pages all competing for the same terms, Google needed a way to separate the junk from the gems. So they figured that if people are linking to it, then it must be important, and the more links, the better. But not just any links. As it turns out, Google is not a democracy! If a link counts as a vote, not all votes are created equal. So Google created Page Rank. Websites deemed "authority sites" were given higher Page Rank and had more voting power. There was a direct correlation between Page Rank and "importance"... in the beginning. It was not long before those morally-deficient, monetized webmasters became power-hungry and started campaigning for votes in unethical ways. They would trade votes for votes, links for links and gained power and position. So in 2007 Google declared, "thou shalt not trade links," and it was so! The monetized webmasters were demoted and grew resentful. In an act of defiance, the monetized webmasters resorted to buying votes from other webmasters, and even paid scribes to counterfeit votes. Some of the most audacious webmasters bought votes from prestigious universities and governmental institutions - the most highly valued votes. Google, looking down from on high, saw that the monetized webmasters were becoming powerful indeed, and placed a bounty on any webmaster caught purchasing votes. Those found guilty would be banished from Search Engine Land forever! Google went for a walk on a sandy shore to reflect for a while... and regretted having given so much voting power to the webmasters. They were a self-serving, biased, irresponsible and greedy generation, easily corrupted by monitization. Google knew that they would never fully represent the people, so Google sought out "The User". His intentions were noble, he had integrity, and he stood to gain nothing from casting his vote. Google placed ballad boxes so conveniently that "The User" didn't even know he was voting. Google WikiSearch, Google SearchBar, Google Chrome, Google Bookmarks. Google watched "The User" more closely than before, paying attention to whom "The User" voted for in Search Engine Land, how often "The User" changed his vote, and how much time "The User" spent in the ballad box. The monetized webmaster didn't know what to do. His voting rights were severely crippled, as were those of his former allies. Soon, he too paid more attention to "The User". He modified his content and created an interactive environment for "The User"....... The end....
nice nice... but webmasters can run sneaky scripts to impersonate 100 or 1000 users and there we go again
Good points, and they can also track the user through the adsense and analytics which are conveniently installed by the owners of so many sites.
The google gets subtle feedback from every service its provides without the knowledge of its users and this serves as an anchor in its search business to make it number one...
These are the reasons why toolbar PR means nothing anymore, yet too many webmasters still rely on it rather then whats really important.