While it’s been clear for much longer that Google Toolbar PageRank is dead as a meaningful indicator of anything, Google said in late 2014 on record that it was not planning on updating it again.
Now, Search Engine Land is reporting that Google just confirmed it is removing Toolbar PageRank altogether. Those using tools/browsers showing PageRank will stop seeing any data. Barry Schwartz writes:
Google explained that they still use PageRank data internally within their ranking algorithm, but the external PageRank values shown in the Toolbar are going away completely….You may continue to see PageRank values in the toolbar for the next couple of weeks, but after that, you should no longer see it.
And that is apparently that. I don’t know how many people were still clinging onto this data as a helpful measurement of how Google views a page, but anyone with that data in front of them has likely been at least in some small regard giving it some kind of credence.
If the data display is completely eliminated, this mentality should be as well.
Image via Google