Google just updated their Toolbar PageRank, also known as the little green bar. Once again I am seeing a lot of web sites losing PageRank, so I want to re-share what I have counseled people in the past.
If your rankings and traffic have not recently fallen, do not worry about your diminished PageRank.
Visible Toolbar PageRank is only a snapshot that Google updates every four to eight months. The real PageRank, the one you never see, is continuously calculated. Google uses real PageRank in its ranking algorithm.
As the Internet gets bigger it becomes more difficult to achieve a high PageRank. In layperson’s terms, PageRank measures the likelihood that someone will arrive on a web page by only following links from other web pages. This means that as the number of web pages on the Internet grows in number it becomes less likely most specific pages will be found by solely clicking on links on other pages. This does not change the quality of pages or their ability to rank in Google.
PageRank is only a portion of Google’s ranking algorithm. If you look at the ranking results for most queries you will see that low PageRank pages frequently outrank their higher PageRank competitors.
If a lower PageRank makes you want to create more quality content and link-worthy content, then I say, “Go for it.” I am not saying that this will increase your PageRank when the next update comes around, but good SEO fundamentals coupled with a drive to build out your web site content will almost assuredly result in higher rankings, rankings for more search queries and increased traffic.