Page Rank, was it ever worth it?

It isn't often that I find a article worth linking to but I believe this is important to those people who struggle to understand how to get more traffic. In the SEO world it seems like little is ever explained about statements made revelant to how much we are charged for SEO work.

I personally have never believed much in Page Rank, I tend to go with Key Words and Key Phrases. Putting myself in the shoes of the seacher. In other words, if I'm looking for X product, what words would I use to find that product on the web; and it works.

I've posted an article here about Google and Page Rank. I hope it sheds a little light on the subject; there are some good comments also, I said "some" good comments. (I also posted a link here so you can read comments.)

Google Ditches PageRank in Webmaster Tools
By Chris Crum

Google has quietly gotten rid of PageRank in Webmaster Tools. Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable points to a thread featuring an explanation from Google Webmaster Trends Analyst Susan Moskwa.

"We've been telling people for a long time that they shouldn't focus on PageRank so much; many site owners seem to think it's the most important metric for them to track, which is simply not true," says Moskwa. "We removed it because we felt it was silly to tell people not to think about it, but then to show them the data, implying that they should look at it."

Search marketers are wondering why Google tells people not to focus on PageRank and removes it from Webmaster Tools, but still keeps it in the Google Toolbar. "Back in 2007, Google wanted feedback on removing PageRank from the Toolbar," says Schwartz. "I felt it was a good idea but the idea died out. Google cannot remove PageRank from the Toolbar, it is too much of their branding. No matter how much Matt Cutts and the Google search quality and webmaster trends team want it removed, I cannot see Google's executives allowing it."

Andy Beal of Marketing Pilgrim says the role of PageRank has been reduced to nothing more than a "comfort blanket for SEO Noobs." He adds, "I say this, with a high degree of confidence that most experienced SEOs pour over the data in Google Webmaster Tools, whereas those new to the industry likely let the toolbar be their only guiding light."

He also notes, however, that PageRank data can still be useful. For example, it can be a good indicator of a site's behavior in Google's index. "Any green means 'go.' No green, means there's something to investigate," says Beal.

Despite this usefulness though, Moskwa pretty much closes the case on Google's position on it. In fact, she even points to a FAQ page about crawling, indexing, and ranking, which says that webmasters shouldn't even bother thinking about it. It also says that PageRank is just one of over 200 signals that can affect how your site is crawled, indexed, and ranked.

Google Checkout store gadget (experimental)

It's about time! For the life of me I have not understood why Google with all their experience and expertise hasn't offered this before. Yes it might be experimental but hey, you have to start somewhere, right?

I'm excited about this because it gives all of use and EASY way to put a shopping cart on our blogs. You have choices now within your blog for placement and size etc.

Overview
The Google Checkout store gadget allows you to quickly and easily create an online store using a Google Docs spreadsheet.

No complicated coding or technical tasks are required. You can get your first online store up-and-running in under five minutes.

Get all the power of the Checkout shopping cart in just three easy steps:

Sign up for a Google Checkout merchant account
List the products you want to sell in a Google spreadsheet
Embed your new online store in any website

Get the details here

Google Tracking For You

We are not sure how anyone can sell this service when Google provides it free along with so many other services at no charge. This Fast Implementation is great, it's easy and we love it. We Rate: 10 out of 10

Go to the : Getting Started Page

You don't have to buy a kit, that is a scam.
You don't have to pay anybody to do this for you, it is truly simple.



You also have an entire section on help, the help describes and gives directions on everything you need to get the job done. If you use the information, read the reports, use the reference materials provided you will be amazed at how you can attract more traffic to your site.

As for the experts, well, we all have to start somewhere.

Google Announced

Google announced that its SEO Starter Guide is now available in 40 languages. This covers 98% of the global Internet audience according to the company. "We hope that webmasters around the world can use the guide to improve their sites' crawlability and indexing in search engines," says Brandon Falls of Google's Search Quality Team.