Google's PageRank, the little green bar that appears in the Google Toolbar for every site, garners a lot of attention. In days gone by, search engine optimization (SEO) was largely about getting a higher PageRank with 10 out of 10 being the best rating. Overtime, the importance of PageRank has diminished, which isn't to say that it doesn't matter anymore. Rather, it is now seems to be just one factor among many factors that is used by Google to determine what sites to show in response to search queries.
Still, even with it's diminished value, you would think that a PageRank of 0 would result in poor rankings for keywords with even just a little competition. However, that's not the case. A co-worker of mine pointed out to me that for the term "search engine optimization", it is still possible to obtain a first page ranking. At the time of this writing, SEO Inc. held the #10 spot and according to the Google Toolbar it has a PageRank of 0. On the second page of results, at position 12, we have Jill Whalen's (a well known and white-hat SEO) site, HighRankings.com which has a PageRank of 6.
Now I can't answer how an SEO company that has been in business for years and has had a site that archive.org shows to have been around since at least 2002 has managed to obtain a PageRank of 0 (I guess they're not friends with Matt Cutts), I think this is strong evidence that if all of the other SEO cylinders are firing, there is still opportunity to obtain impressive rankings.
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Is it possible that Google is just poking fun at SEO specialists by allowing this to happen with the search term "search engine optimization?"
Logan,
That could very well be. The folks at Google certainly do have a sense of humor.
Page Rank only matters when someone else that you are doing business with thinks it matters.
I think that Google has been enforcing a lot of new rules lately due to Google bombs and -30 filters, and that these new updates have had a definite affect on PR. Once Google works the bugs out, PR might not have the same influence that it once had, but it will most likely still be a factor with natural rankings.
For me a decent Page Rank (7):
1. Gets my blog spidered every day.
2. Gets my pages out of supplementals
3. Gets new pages in the index quickly
4. Makes me feel all fuzzy inside.
5. Gets more of my pages in the main index
I've never heard anyone say "I don't want a high Page Rank"!
One of my sites is new and has a pagerank of 0 - but that doesn't stop it from ranking #1 for some very nice keyword searches.
It is a localised niche, but still that is quite bizarre and makes me think PR is complete rubbish
I think it's about time for a new post! Hope you didn't decide to abandon all of us
I agree with Business Blogger. PR still matters if you're selling ads on your pages. Other than that it doesn't make much of a difference.
Pagerank is one element of getting websites ranked. Your friend's domain is keyword rich and probably did a lot more back linking exercises with keyword SEO anchors than Highrankings.