Google never uses the PageRank algorithm to rank pages. It is just a component of the overall algorithm, a system Google uses to measure how important a page is based on links to it. PageRank was never the factor that beat all others. It’s been, and continues to be, the case that a page with lower PageRank might rank higher than a page with a higher PageRank.

Search for any phrase and if you have the PageRank meter switched on in the Google Toolbar, you’ll see how site with a low PageRank comes above high rank pages. Most SEO Companies in India are suffering from Obsessive Page Rank Syndrome (OPRS). Page Rank is the crack pipe at the end of the rainbow and they just keep chasing it in anticipation of many free gifts and overnight success! Of course Google know this too, and are more than happy to sit back and watch these guys jump through their hoops.

Google know they can’t afford to lose customers either and so they seem to know just how far to push these guys so as to make it seem difficult but not impossible. Page Rank has to have an element of credibility to it anyway, and so everyone claims to understand how it works, but can’t seem to make it work in their favor.

And that’s precisely why Google pull these stunts every so often, to stay relevant and to stop these guys from being cocky and thinking we have got the system licked. I mean if these guys all know the secret, where is the next Google?

The other fact is that whilst the majority of companies involved in SEO and site promotion are quick to moan about these shakeups, they forget that without the shroud of mystery around page rank, they’d be out of the job too. Even if one’s site permanently looses PR in a Google shuffle, it’s almost certain that one’s direct competitors are going to loose also thus leveling the playing field. Page Rank should never be a factor in determining anything as the data that Google shows you is 4-6 months old.