I've never focused too much on the actual PageRank on my sites but, after having had a specific one for few years that is still at zero I start to worry that I've been somehow blacklisted. Is there a way to check if that's the case? The site has always been a little slim on content as it's a single-page app.
1 Answer
Google has stopped publishing PageRank publicly. The last time the Google Toolbar was updated with new PageRank data was December 2013. Google has said that it will never be updated again.
If your site was created after December 2013, your toolbar PageRank will always and forever read "0". If you changed anything about your URLs since December 2013, your PageRank will be zero. That includes:
- Adding are removing the
www - Moving to or from HTTPS
- Adding or removing
index.html - Changing your domain name
Google still does measure and use PageRank internally. The best way to know if your site has PageRank is to check that it is being crawled and indexed. If Googlebot is coming back to recrawl your pages periodically, you are in fine shape.
answered Mar 29, 2015 at 8:53
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1Do you have a reference link for "Google has said that it will never be updated again."?– Jason CMar 29, 2015 at 13:48
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1@JasonC I did not do a search on the web for you, however, I do remember this as being announced. There was a tapering off for a period before it just plain stopped. In the announcement I saw, it talked about shutting the process down that makes the metric public and that it will run a few times more then likely stop with the possibility of yearly updates. The reason for this is because spammers used this metric to measure how well they are manipulating Google. Stopping the frequent updating would help to stop spam. Mar 29, 2015 at 15:41
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3Ah, here we go, John Mueller mentions it in a hangout here: youtube.com/… (I wasn't questioning the claim, I just thought extra details would be helpful.) There's also a summary at searchenginejournal.com/…. I didn't find any follow-up that mentions possible yearly updates, but I also didn't look much beyond that. The video seems to be what all the blogs and articles that mentioned the change ultimately refer back to. cc @closetnoc– Jason CMar 29, 2015 at 15:46
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1@JasonC Perfect!! Thanks for the info. I did not doubt your motives. I was going off of memories and I am getting old enough that sometimes I wonder if I remember something correctly. ;-) I tell people that senility starts early in my family- about 2pm. Mar 29, 2015 at 16:52
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1I find it astonishing that still, in 2015, so many website owners are still worrying/fretting over the visible toolbar PageRank. :/ Seriously - who out there is actually still telling these people to look at PR, own up! Apr 2, 2015 at 8:55