Google Toolbar PR Meter Gray Across The Web

[zamolxes]

There is no toolbar PR on any site at the moment - all datacentres are showing PR0. It might just be a "glitch" or a "fix" but there is already speculation on other forums and blogs that it might be the end of toolbar PR.

I hope it is so!

[phpmaven]

I'm seeing the same thing as well. It could just be a glitch, but wow, if they really have decided too nuke TBPR, that sure would shake things up :)

[JohnW]

same in Virginiia, since about 7pm.

[JohnW]

>end of toolbar PR.

The more I tnink about it- what an interesting shift if this is true. My first thought was, well, who needs it. Then I was thinking that it did serve a purpose, at least in seeing if a page was in the index or not. And for the folks that were true believers, it will be like the lights went out.

[bobmutch]

Yes it is the same very where. Even I am now wondering if PR is gone :)

[Dominic]

If I had to place a bet, I'd say it will come back and that this is just a glitch.

If not, my money is on pagerank still being a significant factor in determining search results, just the token indicator for the general public gets turned off.

[Davilac]

No PR across the ocean. No PR in Spain.

Imagine a PR hacked....

Death to PR!

Surely will return again soon.... :mad:

[strategicrankings]

No PR here neither. Customers will start calling. i mean the PR addicts :D

[Davilac]

No PR here neither. Customers will start calling. i mean the PR addicts :D


:D Must wait ;) still I see Google says nothing

Someone think they could be changing PR for something similar? TrustRank?

[kservik]

It is probably just a major update or something of that sort.

[Mikkel deMib Svendsen]

It probably is a temporary glitch - but even if it was gone forever, I wouldn't personally care much. My dices gives more accurate results these day anyway :)

[krisval]

My guess is a glitch, but I don't recall it this wide spread before. Usually only on 1 datacenter. I actually wish it was gone. It would make things very interesting.

[zamolxes]

My guess is a glitch, but I don't recall it this wide spread before. Usually only on 1 datacenter. I actually wish it was gone. It would make things very interesting.

Me too!

I think Google will definitely benefit if they stop showing the PR in the toolbar.

[noogle]

PR itself is still alive because - as far as i can tell, the SERPs are exactly the same as before... it would take a major philosophical shift on google's part to abandon PR. you take PR away from google, what are you left with? yahoo

[JohnW]

If you go to the Google directory through this link, you can see PR. At least for now. My guess is that the toolbar is just having a technical difficulty.

http://www.google.de/search?hl=de&q=google+directory&btnG=Google-Suche&meta=

[phpmaven]

Well I guess time will tell, but the fact that it has been 12 hours now without a fix is interesting. You would think that they would have something like this fixed in very short period of time.

Man, all the text link brokers must be shakin' in their boots! :p

[krisval]

Man, all the text link brokers must be shakin' in their boots!

Wouldn't that be something. Buying text links based on traffic not page rank. Text link brokers would have a hard time justifying $75/Month for a sites with an Alexa ranking of 500,000. Although, people would probably manipulate the Alexa rankings to get more money

[classifieds]

If they don't roll it back it will be a big day for alexa.
Wouldn't that be something. Buying text links based on traffic not page rank. Text link brokers would have a hard time justifying $75/Month for a sites with an Alexa ranking of 500,000. Although, people would probably manipulate the Alexa rankings to get more money

[krisval]

Just posted a poll for anyone interested.
http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=5958

[noogle]

its probably a failure but there's a chance that it's not. assuming the latter, if i were google, why would i shut down PR on the toolbars without warning? perhaps this is a test of some sort... to see how turning off the PR spigot affects websites and meta search engines that have come to rely on PR, or perhaps to see how the lack of PR on the TB affects browsing patterns.

[Mikkel deMib Svendsen]

Man, all the text link brokers must be shakin' in their boots!

No, I don't think so. The best ones dosn't focus that much on PR and personally, as a pro buyer, I would never buy links just based on PR anyway. It dsen't change much for me

[krisval]

No, I don't think so. The best ones dosn't focus that much on PR and personally, as a pro buyer, I would never buy links just based on PR anyway. It dsen't change much for me


Yeah, but there are only a handful of "best ones". There are a lot of shady outfits and individuals who oversell and set up sites for the sole purpose of selling links (no real users and no real traffic).

[Mikkel deMib Svendsen]

Just because the toolbar is broken dosen't mean that links have no value anymore. Thats pretty much the same.

[David Wallace]

It is Memoial Day weekend so my guess is that PR is taking a little three day vacation. He/she surely deserves one as PR has worked very hard this year entertaining so many people that watch PR on a continual basis. :p

[krisval]

Just because the toolbar is broken dosen't mean that links have no value anymore. Thats pretty much the same.
Of course. I just think that if there was no toolbar PR being reported, it would be a lot harder for many link brokers and / or sites engaged in selling links to justify the cost. I don't think text link ads would go away, but PR has been used as a promotional tool to sell ad space. If you visit any of the link selling portals or brokerage firms, PR is always quoted right in forefront. Sometimes you will see Alexa rank and sometimes backlink count for Yahoo and MSN, but in almost all cases you see PR.

[krisval]

I downloaded the new toolbar about a week or two ago and I definitely remember the screenshot having the PagRank meter (at least when it was on the google homepage)

The current screenshot does not have the PageRank meter:
http://toolbar.google.com/

[2003m2003]

Just because the toolbar is broken dosen't mean that links have no value anymore. Thats pretty much the same.
People will invent/find new ways to value links :) yes will have to live without toolbar PR, if Google want that.

[brainwash]

I downloaded the new toolbar about a week or two ago and I definitely remember the screenshot having the PagRank meter (at least when it was on the google homepage)

The current screenshot does not have the PageRank meter:
http://toolbar.google.com/

Maybe, but take a look at the 'PageRank Display' description

http://www.google.com/support/toolbar/bin/static.py?page=features.html

[noogle]

krisval, interesting observation. when you go one link further in, though, it does mention pagerank display as a feature of the toolbar.

http://www.google.com/support/toolbar/bin/static.py?page=features.html

would they change the screenshot but forget about the mention in the features page...? google aren't quite that unprofessional, i don't think. also, it makes no sense to introduce a new toolbar with PR one week before yanking the PR from the TB. so i guess this means PR will be back sooner or later. perhaps the techs in charge of fixing whatever broke are on that extended holiday.

[krisval]

would they change the screenshot but forget about the mention in the features page...?

I know they did this before, removed the PR from the toolbar in the promo, but about a week later they put it back in. This could be nothing, but I thought I'd post it anyway.

[Carlos Chacón]

For those who still believe in the PR… happy holyday!
Turn off your computer and enjoy your life for a while…
;)

[bobmutch]

I don't Google dropping PR for 2 reasons. 1. They have people capture with PR, every one is measureing the value of a page by its PR. 2. Alot of people have the Google toolbar just for viewing PR, if they drop PR may will drop the toolbar.

While I can see they changing it, renaming it, and doing what ever with it but not turning it off and shutting it down. I predict it will be back on Monday : )

[aboshakeeb]

Here what i see when spying on thr TCP session :

Google Error

Forbidden

Your client does not have permission to get URL
/search?client=navclient-.....features=Rank:FVN&q=info:http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
from this server. (Client IP address: 212.###.###.###)

You do not have permission to send search queries from this IP address. Please login to the Google Admin Console and ensure that this IP is
in your list of permitted IPs. Remember that it may take a few hours for a newly added IP address to become activated and able to perform
queries.


Is it Error ??
Is it Really forbidden from this country / IP ??
Is it something new ??

No body knows !!

[strategicrankings]

I get the same message aboshakeeb, i think its the same message everybody is getting.

[bobmutch]

JohnW: The Google directory PR display is static (pos.gif/neg.gif) where the Toolbar PR is retreived from a Google db. Google would have to do a update of all the pages for the GPR to change.

[rustybrick]

No, I don't think so. The best ones dosn't focus that much on PR and personally, as a pro buyer, I would never buy links just based on PR anyway. It dsen't change much for me
Interesting how Text Link Ads (see ad on left) removed the PR values from the ads they sell about one week ago. Bold but smart move.

[LazyCat]

If you go to the Google directory through this link, you can see PR. At least for now. My guess is that the toolbar is just having a technical difficulty.

http://www.google.de/search?hl=de&q=google+directory&btnG=Google-Suche&meta=

Nope -- even Google's PR is gone!

[jazar]

No PR, Big PR... no PageRank, big Public Relation impact.

[Nacho]

I believe this is not the first time Google does this. I remember back in December Danny Sullivan reported (http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/041202-132639):
Now it's semi-official. The PageRank meter means nothing, according to Google's email support team. John Galt posted (http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=3054) out on our forums being sent this recently:
The PageRank that is displayed in the Google Toolbar is for entertainment purposes only. Due to repeated attempts by hackers to access this data, Google updates the PageRank data very infrequently because is it not secure. On average, the PR that is displayed in the Google Toolbar is several months old.Should we start organizing a farewell party?

[seoimage]

This takes me back to the good ole days before the Toolbar existed. Anyone remember those days? We were all able to rank websites and the toolbar meant nothing!

That was back in the day when everyone linked to whoever they wanted for any reason they wanted without fear of getting a PR 0 cause Google did not like who you linked to. Reciprocal linking was a not even a household term.

[bobmutch]

Nacho: You remember that being reported but we need to remember what GoogleGuy had to say on that comment also.
http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/001216.html

GoogleGuy Quote ~12/2/2004: I'd strongly disagree with the statement that the toolbar PageRank is for "entertainment purposes only"--millions of toolbar users use the PageRank display to judge the quality of pages. I think it's also a little irresponsible to quote JohnGalt claiming to talk to some random person at Google, and then for you to quote it as a reponse from Google, which makes it sound more official. I'm happy to refute that this is any sort of official stance.

I added the above date of the quote (12/2/2004) so it wouldn't look like this is a current quote from GoogleGuy.

[sugarrae]

Awesome. ;)

[2003m2003]

I would expect changes in pages like this http://www.google.com/support/toolbar/bin/static.py?page=features.html
from Google, if it is planned removal of toolbar PR.

[Barry]

I look at PageRank all the time. If I can't decide between two websites to link to on my website and one has a PR3 and the other has PR6, I'll link to the PR6. Backlinks and all the other things Google uses are indicators of quality, and I think you can see this by comparing sites with high vs. low PRs.

Maybe Google is trying to determine which websites use Google's PR in a way that violates their TOS, assuming there is such a TOS. I expect the toolbar to come back and be better than ever. My website better still have at least a PR5 or else I'm changing my mind.

[maxman]

PR in the bar is still grey. I think Google will probably remove it this time.

[Artyom]

I'm typing this message from Ukraine and I can tell you - the same is over here too, googlebar is as grey as possible:-) Well, who is going to buy a champagne bottle?;-)

You know, I don't think this is a tragedy or something. When GoogleBar and PageRank itself was released - yes, it was a great idea but as long as a coin always has two sides... by time the whole idea has been used, put mildly, for not it was invented for;-) You know what I mean, it wasn't just page quality measure anymore - no, it was something webmasters were fighting for (for some time me included:-) ),
it was a goods you can trade by, it was something your boss pays attention and tell you - hey, what's wrong with our site? Why it has only PR4 it used to have PR5?! (meanwhile many people a long time ago before today realized that you didn't have to have high PR to be ranked high)

Well, anyway show must go on...go on...go on... (c) F. Mercury

[apoStyle]

Considering the period the PR-indicator is inactive I would agree that Google team might use this interruption to study changes in clicking patterns with relation to PageRank of the visited site.

P.S.: Imagine headlines such as: Eastern Europe still under GooglePR blackout :)

[Barry]

I think I searched Google more today because of the page rank issue. I had to decide which of two alarm clock programs to install and I had to search for reviews and people's comments possibly more than I would have if I knew one of the pages had a really bad PR. If everyone was like me, maybe this is the end of PR as we know it. Maybe it made people use Google less.

[alford]

No more reason to use Internet Explorer... at least as long as it lasts. :D

[zamolxes]

No more reason to use Internet Explorer... at least as long as it lasts. :D

With the number of extensions firefox has there was no reason to use IE anyway. :D

[McFox]

I wonder if Google might just wipe out publicly visible PR but still use it to determine the SERPs since it is an integral part of the patent?

[jazar]

You can still check Pageranks in google directory (http://www.google.com/Top/Computers/Internet/Searching/?il=1) -

=>which means that your site needs to be in Dmoz to get a visual PageRank
=> which means that only sites listed in Dmoz can claim "real" authority.
=> which prevents spam websites to fake authority (with links bought from high PR pages).
=> which is a good way to fight increasing trend to trade links and speculate on their value.

If your site cannot issue visible shares, difficult then to speculate on them. Submitting your site to DMOZ will become more and more like filing an IPO for your site.

[Nacho]

Nacho: You remember that being reported but we need to remember what GoogleGuy had to say on that comment also.
Good post Bob! Forgot about that. :)

[arius]

Has anyone else seen this quote?:
Jeffrey-Anthony Bean, distinguished engineer, Google's Systems Lab. Series says"We need all available Servers (incl. the Pagerank Servers!) for real big Index Operations, so there is no way to show the Pagerank next time, but when these Operations are done, we could use them to show Pagerank again"

[arius]

The Page Rank display is still in the advanced features of the latest version of the Google Toolbar (version 3.0.123.2-big/en (gglg))

[bobmutch]

Nacho: Shawn has a good point over at digitalpoint on what he has found.
(1) Google lists PageRank on the Toolbar as a Toolbar feature still
(2) toolbarqueries.google.com is still a working subdomain. If they dropped it, might as well drop the sub-domain since that's all it's used for
(3) A query from the toolbar to Google for PageRank gives an error that looks like someone made a boo-boo when configuring the allowed/disallowed IPs (like someone disallowed all instead of allowed all).

http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?p=189807#post189807

[bobmutch]

arius: How about the soucre of the quote please.

[alford]

Of Course *Firefox* Zamolxes and this one works best:
http://quirk.co.za/searchstatus/ (thanks for providing me an opportunity to say thanks to these guys with a reference to this excellent extention).

Google only provided for I.E.... a sure fire way to check when in doubt from the official Google toolbar. I am not saying that the above extension was not reliable. I have never once seen it go wrong (Everytime that I checked when in doubt )

Anyways coming back to the main discussion, Google cannot do without PageRank. It is Google's USP. The directory is based on PageRank. They have it in their sales talk everywhere.

Now did I hear PageRank say "I'll be back"?

[Robert_Charlton]

Not only have the little green bars in the Directory continued to display... they seem to have updated in the past few days, with one of the sites I occasionally monitor moving up a couple of positions. Can't imagine that Google would be doing this if they were planning to drop PR anytime soon.

[bobmutch]

Robert_Charlton: We had a BL and GDPR update on May 24th. You can see this reported on my PageRank Update History on the site listed right below my handle above.

[bobmutch]

"Hello bobmutch, GooogleGuy has just replied to a thread you have subscribed to entitled - Google Toolbar PR Meter Gray Across The Web - in the Google Web Search forum of Search Engine Watch Forums. This thread is located at:
http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=5949&goto=newpost

Hey --- I just get an email stating that GoogleGuy had posting on this thread. Where did it go go go : )

[2003m2003]

"We need all available Servers (incl. the Pagerank Servers!) for real big Index Operations, so there is no way to show the Pagerank next time, but when these Operations are done, we could use them to show Pagerank again".

Is Google that poor? ;)

[rustybrick]

"Hello bobmutch, GooogleGuy has just replied to a thread you have subscribed to entitled - Google Toolbar PR Meter Gray Across The Web - in the Google Web Search forum of Search Engine Watch Forums. This thread is located at:
http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=5949&goto=newpost

Hey --- I just get an email stating that GoogleGuy had posting on this thread. Where did it go go go : )
It is a fake, so it was removed. see the 3rd "O" in the name? GooogleGuy

[bobmutch]

Barry: Ya I just noticed that and was having a good laugh. You may want to kill that other report also. It sure got me excited though LOL!
http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showpost.php?p=48620&postcount=54

[Ulstrup]

PR will be back in a couple of hours

http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum80/934-24-15.htm msg#359

[TMonster]

Well I guess we were pioneers. After Google has renewed our rankings back we got very high positions but PR0. Like my partner said: "You are the highest ranked PR0 site I have ever seen " :) .

Now I see that it was a tendency...

[Robert_Charlton]

Robert_Charlton: We had a BL and GDPR update on May 24th. You can see this reported on my PageRank Update History on the site listed right below my handle above.

bob - Thanks. Undoubtedly, you've kept more careful records on this than I have, but the change I saw happened sometime between the night of May 27 and this morning, May 30 (both PDT).

I know this because I don't look at the Directory listing for this site very often, but was prompted to check it by a May 27 post in the WebmasterWorld Supporters Forum that said that the PageRank bars were still showing in the Directory. I was prompted this morning by another post on the same thread to check it again. In that interval, the site had moved from #5 to #3.

I don't count pixels in the bars, so I don't know what, if any, the change has been. It may well be that other sites moved down or dropped out, or that Google was slow in updating some categories from the May 24 update you reported.

But, if Google updated Directory PR on May 24th, it's certainly not dropping PR all together a few days later.

[Jeff Martin]

PR seems to be once again showing on G's toolbar.

And the world heaved a collective sigh.

[Barry]

Maybe GooogleGuy was for real.

As seen in msg #364 from GoogleGuy here (http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum80/934-37-10.htm), "there was some new infrastructure that was swapping in. They expect normal toolbar pagerank display to resume in a few hours--no need for concern."

Still no PR here though.

It looks like the above reference to "Barry" referred to the Moderator, not me. Sorry if my name causes any confusion.

[theRealAirness]

I think it is on the way out. That's the theme of the google guys at the last SES 2005 at New York. They said not to worry about pagerank too much. Don't go crazy. There are other search engines. If you build a good and interesting websites, traffic will come automatically.

So, this clearly means that it is on the way out.

[onedodd]

My site has PageRank from va beach

[Marcia]

Woohoo, me too!

But the text when you look at "about" the toolbar is in French now. :)

[bwprice]

I am getting page rank readings for some of the datacenters.

bwp

[v3mediaworks]

I've got PR here again in Western Canada.

[theRealAirness]

PR back in Vancouver, Canada.

[arius]

arius: How about the soucre of the quote please.http://www.ranking-hits.de/

Well at least it was there.

Also PR is back in all its green glory as seen from the Toronto Area!:D

I can't believe I actually feel some relief.
That was a bit like holding your breath.

[apoStyle]

In Ukraine the green indicator is back @ around 22:55 Greenwich Time. Aslo several friends from other countries (Russia, Poland) report it is back in their toolbars too.

[jan]

DMOZ is also back on the toolbar. But with all the speculation on PR very few people may have missed it.

[Barry]

BTW, when it's not working, the color is closer to ivory2 in this (http://www.december.com/html/spec/color1.html) chart, than gray :D

[cute1]

I used the page rank - if anyone wanted to link with my website, I always checked to see if they were higher or the same as mine.....hope we find out what's going on....

[cute1]

yup working here now....Canada!

[Manpasand]

It is showing up in New Delhi

[jewboy]

NYC back up. I guess this puts all the speculation and theories in this thread to rest.

[reggy73]

PR is back, is everyone else seeing it ? :confused:

[Artyom]

I believe there is a sense to set webmasters sandbox for Google tests - like do not panic, post to forums and do not even worry about any Google experiments for a period of time, like....hm....7-10 days or so.

[dannysullivan]

Given that the toolbar is back, I'm going to close this thread. But you might be interested in this related one, which looks at whether Google ought to do more or less with the toolbar: What should Google do about PR in the Toolbar? (http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=5958).