Hi, Steve. I appreciate your kind words and …

Comment posted on Why Google PageRank Could Be a Thing of the Past by Doc Sheldon@Doc Sheldon’s SXO Clinic

Hi, Steve. I appreciate your kind words and you taking the time to comment.
I share your feelings that we’re likely to see some major changes. I wish I had a crystal ball to know exactly what those changes will bring, but I suppose that would take a lot of the fun out of it, eh?
I like your idea of “thought leaders”… I think that’s why I enjoy following Ana’s blog so much!

Doc Sheldon@Doc Sheldon\’s SXO Clinic also commented

• I’ll quickly admit that the scientific construction of algorithms is WAY over my balding head,, Dennis. But it seems to me to be something easily within their capabilities.

  First of all, we’re only talking about the PageRank algo… the SERPs rank algo is entirely separate, and I imagine, MUCH more complex. It would seem to me that the PR algo would be a relatively simplistic piece of work. Rewriting it to incorporate other criteria, such as citations, would be a task, but not formidable, for their engineering team, I expect.
  Second, you needn’t rewrite what you intend to delete.
  As for the SERPs ranking algo, I think they’ve already performed many facelifts that cut deeper into the previous version than this would. So again, I don’t see it as any more than a manageable challenge for them.

  In short, I think the only “foundation” that would be shaken would be ours. SEOs and and site owners have been focused on links since early on. Such a change would require some major re-thinking on our part.

  Thanks for your contribution, Dennis. The discussion is interesting.

• Hi, Kevin-
  I glance at MozRank now and then, just as I do at the Alexa, but frankly, I pay them (and PageRank) little attention. However, I think most people like to see how they stand… it “validates” them. So they will look at whatever metric is offered, that seems to have the most credibility. Because of that, such metrics will probably always be publicly embraced, and more so, if Google does away entirely with the toolbar PageRank. I doubt MozRank will ever become more than that, however. I don’t think SEOMoz has THAT much influence.
• Hi, Alex - thanks for chiming in!

  I don’t recall Google saying that PR didn’t enter into SERPs placement, only that it was just one of the over 200 factors that enter into it. Did I miss something?
  Still, I think its importance in SERPs placement in diminishing, and I’m glad to see it. Authority ranking, while only once-removed from popularity ranking, is an improvement, I grant.

  Thanks for the comment, Alex!

• Hi, Dennis… pleasure to see you here!

  Absolutely, it would mean a major overhaul in the way we all think. But I think it’s time for an overhaul, and I’m betting that Google’s been thinking along the same lines for some time. Web 3.0, if and when it is finally viable, would totally negate the “need” for links, although I think they’ll always be around. Citations would likely replace them… just not for the purpose of establishing a nebulous “PageRank”.

  As for writing and building for the users, I agree completely… you can’t get hurt!

• Hi, Chris-

  I guess I wasn’t clear, because you seem to have misunderstood me. I agree with all of your first paragraph, which is what I thought I said to Lisa, up until the last sentence. When I said “Everything else is just noise”, I was referring to everything that wasn’t relevant results (to keep their users) and ad sales (which are dependent upon those users). Beyond those, everything else is just noise for them.

  As for how to serve the most relevant results, Google has some of the finest minds in the industry, that have already proven themselves capable of developing some mighty impressive algorithms… I trust they can do that, given some time and effort to implement RDFa, to assist in achieving some semantic capability.

  Will that happen overnight? Obviously not. But I suspect that it will happen rapidly enough to shake up a lot of people. And given the number of “SEO is Dead” pieces that seem to surface after every new update, I think it’s safe to say that our industry is prone to being shaken up, even in the absence of cause. Give us a reason, and look out!

  You say “Links will always be important and will never go away” - define important, and to whom. I agree they’ll never go away. I just said that I think they’ll play a much less prominent role in SERPs placement. But face it… they’re only important to Google until they have a better metric. The function of links, from their standpoint, can be performed just as well by other means. Citations, RDFa/GoodRelations, even the very basic FOAF…. which are not as easily gamed. If Ctags are implemented, the only person a fella can spam is himself.

  I just don’t think it’s realistic to make a pat statement about links being too important to lose their value in ranking. Anything can change.

Recent comments by Doc Sheldon@Doc Sheldon\’s SXO Clinic

• Traffic Generation Step by Step: So You Published a New Post, Now What?
  Good info, as usual, Ana! A few months back, a good friend turned me on to FriendFeed, and that is always my first bookmark, immediately after posting anything. I’ve tested with Google alerts for unique words in a post, and have seen alerts hit my inbox in as little as eight minutes after bookmarking to FriendFeed!

  I also share your enthusiasm for SERPd. Great crew over there, and I think they’ll be growing a LOT!

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  ‘Lo, Ana!
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• Mistery of Google PageRank Solved?
  Hi, Ana- Great post, as usual!

  I’d like to clear up a couple of misconceptions that some seem to have about pagerank (and toolbar pagerank, which is different, as I’ll explain).

  First of all, pagerank is presently one of the most important single ranking factors in Google’s algorithm. It is computed by considering the quantity and quality of inbound links (also referred to as backlinks). The only way that age enters into that equation is in the age of the link. A link that was put up last week will have less value than that same link put up two years ago. However, that same link put up seven years ago would probably have less power than had it been put up two years ago. I say “probably” because nobody outside of Google really “knows” for sure.

  To repeat: quantity and quality of inbound links, and NOTHING ELSE, determine a page’s pagerank.

  Some SEOs perform extensive testing to try to figure out what Google thinks and does, and some of the trends they identify seem to be valid. But at the end of the day, it’s really all just educated guesswork.

  In response to Jason’s comment, a site’s age may matter in ranking, but NOT in pagerank.

  My second point is to clarify the difference between pagerank and toolbar pagerank (most of us in the industry refer to it as “foolsbar” pagerank).

  Pagerank (“actual PR, if you will) is computed many times each day… constantly… and that is what is used by Google for ranking our position in the SERPs (search engine results pages). Periodically, Google will issue an “update”, releasing to the public a snapshot of the PR at some point in time in the past. That update is what you see on the foolbar.

  Typically, that has meant that when an update was released, we were suddenly seeing what the pagerank WAS, not IS, at some day gone by. I’ve heard it said by some that the data was two to three months old when made public.

  I disagree with that, for the same reason that you should, Ana. You and I started our blogs at about the same time. I noticed that my blog had climbed up to a smashing 0/10 about two weeks after I first went online. You’re also at 0/10, and I suspect you rose to that level (from “unranked”) just about a month and a half ago, as I did. That seems to coincide with a recent update, but it obviously isn’t two or three month old data. However, it WILL BE two or three months old by the time the next update is released. At this point in time, your blog’s actual PR may be a PR0, PR3, PR5… who knows? And by the time I finish typing this comment, it may change. But the foolbar PR will still show it as 0/10.

  I hope that clears it up somewhat. I just hate to see people thinking that what they see on the toolbar PR indicator means something in the present. It’s just a snapshot from the past.

  BTW, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least to see Traffic Generation Cafe jump to a PR3 or 4 with the next update. You’ve been doing a fantastic job at maintaining top quality content and marketing your blog. Keep it up!

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  Hi, Ana-

  Great tips! I’m ashamed to say that my siteload was 5.3 seconds, which I consider atrocious! Apparently, I fell into the “ooh…that’s shiny” trap, and had far too many plugins activated. I’ve murdered a few of them, thanks to your reminder. I’ll have to wait to see what my new “official” loadtime is, but I can tell it’s much better already… around half.

  Thanks!

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