PageRank Score

PageRank used a system for measuring the authority of web pages which was called the PageRank score. This score ranked different web pages using a logarithmic scale ranging from 0 to 100, with a score of 100 being the highest that any page could scale.

One distinct feature of the logarithm scale is that the higher you get, the more difficult it is for you to move higher.

For instance, it is easier for a web page with a PageRank score of 25 to increase to 35 than it is to move from 75 to 85 in the PageRank score.

One other important feature of the PageRank score is that a page can transfer some of its PageRank to other web pages by simply linking to them.

In order to rank higher in the PageRank system, webmasters had to acquire as many backlinks as possible. This will enable them to get a higher PageRank Score.

Google Toolbar

The Google toolbar was introduced in 2000 to enable site owners to see their PageRank score in real-time. If there was any update to your PageRank score, you would instantly find out through the Google toolbar.

Even though the reasons for creating the toolbar were noble, SEO saw it as an excuse to focus on increasing backlinks and PageRank rather than the quality of content. Everyone wanted to rank higher, so they could attract more web visitors, without much thought on how these backlinks were acquired.

Some even tried to manipulate the system in order to gain an advantage over competitors in the same niche or industry.

Guess who was at the receiving end of all the SEO manipulations?

Search users!

So Google had to discontinue updates on the toolbar in 2014 and eventually retired the toolbar in 2016.

The PageRank toolbar may have been retired by Google, but does it mean that the same goes for PageRank itself?