Google Removes PageRank Data From Webmaster Tools, Search Engine Roundtable (Oct 15)
Reports that Google has dropped PageRank information from the Google Webmaster Tools - presumably to encourage webmasters to attend to other ways to improve rankings. Why, then, does it remain on the Google Toolbar for searchers to use?
But - I don't think searchers use it much if at all. And in my analysis of search results, albeit loosely done, very often high page rank does not rule in the top 3 results. In fact I was beginning to suspect that pagerank was much less a factor than people have thought. It may be that Google really has changed its algorithms so much that PR - or at least the "many links" understanding of it has been downgraded. This posting in Search Engine Roundtable might be more evidence of that.
However, Google's technology page puts PageRank first. It is clear that this is no longer a simple links-in algorithm (if it ever was):-
"PageRank reflects our view of the importance of web pages by considering more than 500 million variables and 2 billion terms. Pages that we believe are important pages receive a higher PageRank and are more likely to appear at the top of the search results.
PageRank also considers the importance of each page that casts a vote, as votes from some pages are considered to have greater value, thus giving the linked page greater value. We have always taken a pragmatic approach to help improve search quality and create useful products, and our technology uses the collective intelligence of the web to determine a page's importance."