Google PageRank - have you given up the dream?

I think most webmasters have, but I can’t be sure.

Do any webmasters actually still have the Google Toolbar installed? Worse yet, do they use it to determine the value of web pages? This is a very dangerous practice indeed, because the data on the ToolBar is very, very old. In fact, Google seems to intentionally keep the thing inaccurate, so people can’t deduce too much from it.

The Google Toolbar is nothing for a webmaster to have installed for two reasons:

• The data is false. Why worship a false idol? In fact, using the data from an out of date toolbar makes you look almost out of touch. If you’re running around telling people that there website is worthless because it has a PR 0, you’re missing the boat. The real value of the page is probably MUCH HIGHER. It’s just that Google doesn’t show you the value. Don’t use inaccurate data to base conclusions on
• Every browser request you make is sent to Google and stored on their servers, presumably forever. Why in God’s name give a company this much marketing information in exchange for “nothing at all”. Even grocery stores give you a discount when you use your “customer loyalty card”. Google stores the data and does “God knows what” with it.

This goes doubly for ALEXA: the undisputed do-nothing toolbar of all time. No on in their right mind believes in the fantasy information on Alexa. I have one site that has an Alexa rank of 11,000 and another with a rank of 818,999. The one at 818,999 has 100 times the traffic! The thing is, there’s no webmaster traffic there. Even Anti-Spyware software will try and get you to remove Alexa because of the problems with privacy.

Have you uninstalled these items? Did you ever have them? Do you have them now, and why?