Google
finally roll out a much unexpected tool bar Page Rank update, many websites
have seen a change in their page rank. Many of us assumed that it was pretty much
going away because it has been so long since it has been updated, after years
of regularity.
PageRank
is the most clearly visible metric available to determine the value of the
website based on how many quality links are pointing to it. This December 2013
update is of particular important because no one saw it coming. The last update
to Toolbar PageRank was back in February and support for it has been dropped on
many browsers. This led many in the SEO industry to speculate that Google was
phasing it out.
It
came out as a surprise to every blogger and internet marketer because head of
Google’s webspam team “Matt Cutts” himself replied, “I would be surprised if
that happened”, to a tweet from one of the blogger.
Reactions
to the update are mixed, some are happy to see the new data, while others wish
it would just go away once and for all. Today’s update indicates that Toolbar
PageRank is still very much alive, at least for now. However, Google continuing
to update it shows it still has value in measuring the amount and overall
quality of links pointing to your site.
On
Twitter, Cutts acknowledged the update which perhaps did come as a surprise to
him, as it came by the hands of a different team at Google. He also mentioned
that it wasn’t an accident, but was just easier for them to push the new PR data
rather than keep the old data.