For those of you new to SEO and the terminology, first let me explain PageRank. 

PageRank is a link analysis algorithm that assigns a numerical weighting to each element of a hyperlinked set of documents, such as the World Wide Web, with the purpose of “measuring” its relative importance within the set. The algorithm may be applied to any collection of entities with reciprocal quotations and references. The numerical weight that it assigns to any given element E is also called the PageRank of E and denoted by PR(E). (Wikipedia)

In layman’s terms, Google has a PageRank of 10, Facebook has a PageRank of 8, and Kolbrener has a PageRank of 5.   

If you are an SEO and are not aware of Google’s latest PageRank Leg Drop, it may be time to hang up your keyboard.  Google hammered websites that were selling text links on their website to pass PageRank to their advertisers.  Because typically a link on a webpage has a PageRank of 8 will pass more rank than a webpage with a PageRank of 3. 

Around the webmaster community, site after site was devalued, with many webmasters responding with “well our rankings didn’t drop, so what does it matter?”  Well it does, here is why. 

I will begin with an analogy.  If SEO were No Limit Hold’ Em, and Eric Ward were Doyle Brunson, then right now would be the Poker boom of 2004-2005.   

(This next paragraph is a generalization, so please take it with a grain of salt.) 

Swarms of SEOs clamoring for top rankings, flooding forums with questions like “I lost my rankings, please help!” while their forum signature is a link to Satellite Equipment (It won’t help your website!). The goal is to be the Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, or Joseph Hachem. The mentality is “if Moneymaker did it, I can do it.” But this group, values links solely on PageRank. That is their problem, and it was a blessing to webmasters of high PageRank websites.  Now that blessing is a curse. 

Google hit websites where it counted, in their pockets.  Because the PageRank fiends would be willing to spend a ‘C’ note on a sitewide link if the domain had a PageRank of 6.  Now that it deflated to a 4, they would rather spend their money elsewhere.  

So back to the original point: What do Barry Bonds and Arnold Schwarzenegger have to do with Google?

Plus paid links, and you get:

 Are you surprised when people want to put an asterisk next to his records?  Same holds true with Google’s PageRank.   

So Matt Cutts (head of Google’s Webspam team) said: 

“Hey you!  That’s right you, PageRank 8! You look like this, huh?”

 “And you are selling links on your homepage to Dog Beds and French Property? Watch this!”  

Remember it is Google’s world, we’re just optimizing in it.