According to the Google toolbar, Findlaw.com achieved a Google page rank of 8 for the first time. Besides having a higher page rank than most legal website, the 8 equals the page rank of some notable online names like Ebay, monster.com, Amazon.com and WebMD. So what does this mean? Fundamentally, the ranking represents Google’s measure of importance of FindLaw.com to Web users. For a detailed discussion of page rank, please visit my “What is Google Page Rank? dated March 18, 2008.
As a follow-up to that article there are some common page rank misconceptions that need to be addressed;
Myth: PageRank values range from 0 to 10.
Truth: PageRank is a floating point number. Google rounds up the real value to the closest integer and puts it on the 0-10 scale, displayed in your browser toolbar.
Myth: PageRank value displayed in the toolbar is the one used to rank the results.
Truth: The toolbar value is updated every few months, with no regular schedule of update. Actual PageRank is calculated in real-time and is not reflected in the toolbar. The toolbar value should be considered not as a current rank but as a ballpark figure as of the latest toolbar update.
Myth: PageRank is the primary factor used to rank the search results.
Truth: Google employs many factors in ranking its search results – more than 200, of which PageRank is only one. Nobody outside the Google offices knows the actual weight of each factor. It is not uncommon for a site with a lower PageRank to outperform a site with a higher PageRank. Actual traffic and lead generation to a Web site – and not PageRank – are the best indicators of site success.