Monday, April 30, 2007

My problem with Google's Page Rank System

Google's Page Rank

I understand that Page Rank (PR) is a big deal to Google, but I think the way they rank is a bit moronic. If you have Google's toolbar and you go to the home page of Google you will see that they have a page rank of 10. Well, I can almost guarantee that all the links going to Google are not from sites that have something to do with Google or are relevant to Google/search engines. I can also guarantee that all the pages linking to them do not have a Page Rank of 4 or higher. The same goes for the sites they are linking to. If the system was the same for me, as it is for them, I would have a Page Rank of 10 also.

Google wants you to have quality outbound links that relate to the content/subject of your site. Well, that sounds all fine and dandy, but it really is not possible for everyone and it doesn't make sense to business owners on the web! If businesses want to list their clients they should be able to without penalty.

Real Trust

If someone has a site that sells screening services (site A) and they list the YMCA and a local day care facility as clients, according to Page Rank rules, this will hurt the site because the site they are linking (site B) to is not relevant to site A. It is true that screening services are not related to the YMCA or day care, but that does not mean that the link is not worth anything. In the business world those links show potential clients that the screening business has clients that trust them enough to invest in their services. As a result, a new client will begin to trust them strictly because of the client list and this will help the business make more money. Therefore, this means the link is valuable.

I know if I saw that a local branch of the YMCA trusted a screening company I would think that the company must know their stuff (It would be the 1st step in establishing trust), but Google would assume that this site is not as trustworthy as a screening web site that paid for links coming in and going out. The question is who does the ordinary person trust? I do not trust a company only because of their Page Rank. In fact, PR has nothing to do with it, ever! I look at client lists, reputation and word of mouth.

A Manipulated System

Google has people running around like chickens with their heads cut off buying links or trying to obtain links that have high Page Ranks AND that are relevant to the subject of their site. Google says they don't want you to buy these links, but people pretty much have to. So in the end, the Page Rank system is manipulated and is becoming untrustworthy. Linking has become a game and the original purpose of the system has been lost. People will always find a way to get around any system and they have with PR.

So, Google, do you see why this system is skewed? It doesn't work and it is easily manipulated. You have created a system that only benefits those that have enough money to manipulate the system or those that are creative enough to manipulate it. What I cannot understand, and probably never will, is that Google started off as a small business and many people supported it and helped it gain its current economic status and popularity. If it wasn't for the little people Google would be nothing, but in the end Google is screwing over the little people (perhaps not purposefully) and supporting those that have the power and money to gain the ranking they want.

Does Google Care About Small Businesses?

What about small businesses, Google? Why don't they deserve their shot? Why don't you want to support those that need to make an honest living and do not have the money to constantly be buying links or paying for blog entries (with high PR) with links back to their site? Your system is easily manipulated and you are ok with that? The system is crooked and that is ok? I don't get it.

In my very humble opinion, I must state that I feel that site need to be ranked due to their trustability. My business site is listed on hundreds of sites that are basic spam and junk. I didn't want my site on there. People come and find my site and list it. They steal my writing and my description to put on their site and there is no way to contact them to get my site off. These are junkie sites, yet they are at the top of Google's 1st page and some have high page ranks. So, I guess creating junk and a site that just irritates people is the way to get rewarded on Google???!. I don't get it.

WHY???

So, Google, here is my question, WHY do you like this system? Why don't you want to create a real system? A valuable one? Is it because it would be hard to create this system without an actual human looking at the sites and this would cost so much money? Don't you want to create a system that actually tells a person if a site is trustworthy or not? Who you trust is one thing, but who the ordinary Internet needs to trust is another.

A Privilege to Be In the Index

I know Google says that they help people because their sites are in the index. This is true, but when you penalize a site for being a business that isn't really fair, is it? I will say that Google has done a better job in the last few months with their search results. It is easier to find things than it was 6 months ago, but I am sick of hearing about PR (Page Rank). To me this is a system that is important to only one business, Google.

There is my blurb, irritation and rant...I do feel a little better :-)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

that's what you get when you're simply too big to compete with ... blame it on yahoo who couldn't give a good fight ...

in every sector, you just need competition to benefits people on the street or else the "arrogant" will appears sooner or later ...

Anonymous said...

You can make seemingly unrelated links related by using good anchor text and LSI in the link. For your example perhaps something like:
Screening has improve fitness programs at the YMCA....
Using anchor text like this for the link will show the relationship between the two Websites and give the link trust. LSI is very important amd effective at passing PR at the moment, at least until Google changes it.

SEO Sarasota, SEO Copywriting Sarasota said...

James, I understand what you are saying. My big beef is that it can be so easily manipulated and it is unfair for those that don't want or have the money to spend on obtaining high PR links.

Also, regarding LSI please check out
http://www.miislita.com/information-retrieval-tutorial/svd-lsi-tutorial-1-understanding.html

by Dr. Edel Garcia. I have found out that everything SEOs are taught about LSI is typically completely wrong.

I did discuss anchor text on my other blog http://sarasotaseo.blogspot.com.

Thanks for your input. I appreciate it