For some Google Toolbar users, PageRank has already been removed, although it may remain active for some, while it is finally removed for all users.
This is what you see when you visit CNN with the Google Toolbar enabled in Internet Explorer.
The bar is now gray and when you hover over it, it shows “No PageRank information available.”
Here is how the same site looks from another computer that is still displaying the PageRank.
Here's what we know about PageRank removal.
It only removes the “publicly visible” PageRank.
Even though the visible PageRank is being removed from the Google Toolbar, all pages still have a PageRank value internally within Google.
Yes, Google still uses PageRank Internally
And yes, Google still uses PageRank internally at Google. Google confirmed it:
“Yes, PageRank is still used in our algorithms, among many other factors”
confirmed a Google spokesperson.
In fact, there appear to be no changes related to how Google uses PageRank with this removal of public PageRank. So, from an SEO point of view, it might be harder to quickly figure out the PageRank value.
Does removing PageRank change anything for SEO or the site owner?
The SEM post I asked Google this specific question, and if the withdrawal was simply so that SEOs would no longer focus on this metric that has not been updated in years and that we have not expected to see an update.
At the end of the day, what really only matters is whether this removal of public PageRank has any impact on the sites. Google confirmed that it does not.
The Google spokesperson told The SEM Post:
No, this update does not change anything in the way webmasters or SEOs make their sites appear in search. Webmasters can use the Search Console for details about your content's presence in Google search, including information about links pointing to your sites.
As the Internet and our understanding of the Internet have grown in complexity, the PageRank tool score has become less useful to users as a single isolated metric. Removing PageRank from the toolbar helps avoid confusing users and webmasters about the importance of the metric.
Non-Google Tools and Toolbars
There are many tools, extensions and toolbars that are designed to display a data toolbar as part of the toolset. But since these also take data from the public PageRank, it is believed that these tools will stop working soon.
Why remove PageRank from the toolbar?
Many webmasters had resigned themselves to the fact that the 2013 PageRank update would be the last – even that was an unexpected update after Google fixed another issue that led to the update.
It also solves the problem that many sites were seeing when they switched from http to https... They were losing their PageRank from http as it will not be transferred to the https URL.
And yes, some site owners said they suffered “PageRank loss” – even though it was actually only the PageRank visible – as a reason not to switch sites to https.
It also puts less value on the pages for link marketers who are still selling links based on PageRank. With the removal of PageRank, that valuable metric will no longer be able to be used by marketers.
And there is still endless SEO advice given to the elimination of public PageRank, showing that a metric so many years old still exerts considerable influence, although much of it due to a lack of understanding of what PageRank is, why it is important and what visible PageRank really means.
So if you want to say goodbye to Google's PageRank bar before it rides off into the sunset, fire up that dusty old copy of Internet Explorer or use one of the tools/extensions that still displays pagerank.
