PageRank under threat
Google PageRank could soon be removed according to several industry sources. SEO blog
Search Engine Roundtable has reported the search engine may be taking steps to phase out the site-monitoring metric.
The news came as it was revealed the search engine had abolished PageRank data from site monitoring software Google Webmaster.
Susan Moskwa, an employee at Google, confirmed the PageRank feature had been removed from Webmaster Tools. Writing on an official forum, she said:
"We've been telling people for a long time that they shouldn't focus on PageRank so much; many site owners seem to think it's the most important metric for them to track, which is simply not true. We removed it because we felt it was silly to tell people not to think about it, but then to show them the data, implying that they should look at it"
Move leads to industry speculation
The decision to remove PageRank from the program led many SEO blogs to speculate whether the metric would also be removed from the Google toolbar in browser windows.
Andy Beal, editor of the internet news site
Marketing Pilgrim, said Google would need to consider the merits of removing the PageRank icon from web browsers.
"The problem is, Google’s not yet ready to remove the PageRank score from the toolbar installed on hundreds of millions of web browsers. This really leads you to conclude that role of PageRank has been reduced to nothing more than a comfort blanket for inexperienced SEO professionals."
Meanwhile, a post on SEO Roundtable suggested Google would be forced to keep the PageRank icon on browsers for marketing reasons.
"Google cannot remove PageRank from the Toolbar, it is too much of their branding. No matter how much Matt Cutts and the Google search quality and webmaster trends team want it removed, I cannot see Google's executives allowing it."
