On Tuesday, we ran a poll asking if Google's PageRank data reports in Webmaster Tools useless or useful. The results are in and the majority of SEOs believe those reports are completely useless.
I am one to agree with the masses here, not because I don't think Google doesn't want to provide useful information here. But more because of the issues I have seen with the reports in Webmaster Tools over the years and how they often are simply wrong or outdated due to bugs or resource issues.
Here is a breakdown of the 131 responses:
:: PR data in WMT is Useless said 74 respondents or 56.49%
:: PR data in WMT is Not Helpful said 32 respondents or 24.43%
:: PR data in WMT is Somewhat Helpful said 19 respondents or 14.5%
:: PR data in WMT is Very Helpful said 4 respondents or 3.05%
:: Other category said 2 respondents or 1.53%
So there you have it, thanks for participating in the poll.
Forum discussion continued at WebmasterWorld.
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rustybrick in Google PageRank/SERP Updates at January 9, 2009 8:46 AM
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It's like any statistical data that has room for errors. As long as you are aware of the discrepancies, and account for them, then the data can be useful.
Most SEO's need tools that do all the work for them, methods that are cut and dried recipes that they can follow without having to deviate that work every time, or hard data that shows them exactly what they need to know. Unless the tool/method/data falls into that category for them, it's "useless".
I missed the poll, but I would have gone into the "Somewhat Helpful" category.
Posted by Michael VanDeMar at January 9, 2009 09:10