I still get emails from people offering to sell me links from "PR 6 websites." Some business owners also ask me how they can check their site's PageRank. Both are leftovers from a number that Google stopped showing ten years ago.
In March 2016, Google confirmed it was removing Toolbar PageRank, the little green bar that showed a 0 to 10 score for any web page. On April 15, 2016, the scores went dark for good. Google did not stop using PageRank inside its ranking systems. It stopped telling the public what the number was.
Let me explain where Toolbar PageRank came from, why it caused so many problems, what Google said when it retired the score, and how PageRank still works today. You can see this change alongside other updates in our Google algorithm updates timeline.
The Toolbar PageRank retirement at a glance
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Announced | Confirmed March 9, 2016 (John Mueller and Google statements to the press) |
| Switched off | Friday, April 15, 2016 |
| Type | Retirement of a public metric, not a ranking algorithm update |
| Confirmed by Google? | Yes |
| What changed | The public 0 to 10 PageRank score disappeared from the Google Toolbar and from every tool that pulled it |
| What did not change | Google kept using PageRank internally in ranking |
| Last public score update | Late 2013 (no refresh for more than two years before removal) |
A short history of the little green bar
PageRank was the idea that made Google different in 1998. In simple words, it treats a link from one page to another as a vote. Pages with more votes, and votes from important pages, get a higher score. Google's founders built their first ranking system around it.
In 2000, Google released its Toolbar for Internet Explorer. If you turned on the PageRank feature, a small green bar showed the score of any page you visited on a scale from 0 to 10. Search Engine Land's retrospective describes how quickly SEOs became fixated on that number.
The key thing to understand is that the toolbar score was a rough, simplified snapshot. It was rounded to a whole number, updated only a few times a year, and it was only one of many factors Google used. A page with PageRank 6 could easily rank below a page with PageRank 3 for a specific search.
Key dates in Toolbar PageRank's life
- 2000: Google Toolbar launches with the PageRank meter.
- Early 2005: Google introduces the
nofollowlink attribute, letting sites mark links that should not pass PageRank. - December 2007: Google starts actively penalizing sites that sell paid text links, according to Wikipedia's PageRank article. Many link-selling sites saw their toolbar scores cut.
- October 15, 2009: A Google employee confirms PageRank has been removed from Webmaster Tools.
- 2013: Search Engine Land notes Google took 10 months to refresh toolbar scores that year. It was the last public update.
- October 2014: Matt Cutts says another visible PageRank update is not coming.
- March 9, 2016: Google confirms the toolbar score will be removed.
- April 15, 2016: The scores are switched off for good.
The retirement landed in a busy few months. In January 2016, Google confirmed that Panda had become part of its core algorithm, and in February it removed right-side ads from desktop results. None of these were classic ranking updates, but each changed how SEOs read Google.
How a public score turned into a link-selling currency
Here is the real reason Toolbar PageRank mattered so much. Once there was a visible number, people started buying and selling it.
A site with a high toolbar score could charge more for a link, because buyers believed that link would pass more PageRank and raise their rankings. Link brokers priced links by "PR." Directories, blog networks and comment spammers all chased the same number. Search Engine Land's retrospective compared link networks to political Super PACs trying to buy votes.
This created a cycle that hurt the web:
- Site owners got spam emails asking for links or offering paid links based on PR.
- Blogs and forums were flooded with comment spam because people wanted links from high-PR pages.
- Businesses wasted money on links that Google later ignored or penalized.
- Many site owners judged their SEO progress by a number that had little to do with actual rankings or traffic.
Google fought back with nofollow, paid-link penalties, the 2012 deindexing of blog networks and eventually the Penguin update in 2012, which targeted manipulative link building directly. But as long as the green bar existed, it kept feeding the market.
What Google said when it retired Toolbar PageRank
Google confirmed the removal to Search Engine Land and others in March 2016. Search Engine Watch reported John Mueller's explanation:
“The Toolbar PageRank score has become less useful to users as a single isolated metric.”
— John Mueller, Google, quoted by Search Engine Watch, Google is killing off PageRank from its Toolbar
Mueller added that retiring the display "helps avoid confusing users and webmasters about the significance of the metric." Search Engine Land reported that Google still used PageRank internally, and that only the external toolbar values were being discontinued.
About a month later, the switch was flipped. Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Land captured it neatly:
“Well, their PageRank still exists, but the Toolbar version of that PageRank is gone, gone forever.”
— Search Engine Land, Google Toolbar PageRank officially goes dark
Why Google really removed it
Google's official reason was confusion. That is true, but I think there were several reasons working together. Some are stated, some are reasonable inferences:
| Reason | Stated or inferred? | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| The score confused users and site owners | Stated by Google | A single rounded number gave a false picture of how ranking works |
| The score was out of date | Documented | It had not been refreshed since 2013, so it was not accurate anyway |
| It fuelled link selling and spam | Widely inferred | Removing the visible number took away the "currency" link sellers used |
| The toolbar itself was fading | Inferred | Internet Explorer's toolbar era was over, and Chrome never showed PageRank by default |
In brief: a stale number that encouraged spam and misled people had no reason to stay public.
Third-party authority metrics filled the gap
When the green bar disappeared, the SEO industry did not stop wanting a number. Tools like Moz, Ahrefs, Semrush and Majestic already had their own link-based scores, and these quickly became the new shorthand.
- Domain Authority (DA) from Moz
- Domain Rating (DR) from Ahrefs
- Authority Score from Semrush
- Trust Flow and Citation Flow from Majestic
Ahrefs explains that Domain Rating "shows the relative strength of a website's backlink profile" on a logarithmic scale from 0 to 100, and that it is calculated in a way somewhat similar to PageRank, but between websites rather than pages.
These metrics are useful for comparing sites and spotting strong link prospects. But it is important to remember what they are not: none of them is used by Google. They are each tool's own estimate based on its own crawl of the web. I explain this in more detail in Domain Authority explained: what it is and isn't.
The same risk that existed with toolbar PageRank exists with these numbers. Link sellers now advertise "DA 50+" or "DR 70" links, and those scores can be inflated with cheap, spammy links. Treat them as a starting filter, not proof of quality.
An example of how to judge a link without PageRank
Here is a hypothetical example. Suppose a local bakery is offered two links:
- Link A: A general "guest post" site with DR 72, thousands of unrelated articles about casinos, crypto and loans, and almost no real search traffic. The price is fixed and listed on a menu.
- Link B: The website of a local food festival with DR 31, real visitors from the town, and a sponsors page listing local businesses.
On authority score alone, Link A looks better. In reality, Link B is far more valuable. It is relevant, it is earned through a real relationship, and it sends local customers. Link A is a paid link of the kind Google's spam policies describe, and it could be ignored or worse.
PageRank today: still part of Google's core ranking
PageRank did not die in 2016. Only the public score did. Google's guide to ranking systems says PageRank was "one of our core ranking systems used when Google first launched," and adds that "it continues to be part of our core ranking systems," though how it works has evolved a lot.
Here is what that means for you in practice:
- Links still matter. They help Google discover pages and understand which ones others find valuable.
- Not all links count equally. Links from relevant, trusted pages matter more than links from random or spammy ones.
- Paid and manipulative links are a risk. Google's spam policies define link spam as creating links "primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings," and buying or selling links for ranking is the first example listed.
- You cannot see your real PageRank. Only Google knows it. Any tool claiming to show "Google PageRank" today is showing something else.
For a deeper look at how link analysis has evolved, read PageRank and link analysis after a decade of link updates. And if you are unsure what kinds of links are still worth building, see link building after link spam updates. Beginners can start with our free lesson on what makes a good link (and a bad one).
How to measure link building progress without a PageRank score
Since there is no Google number to watch, here is the approach I suggest for tracking whether your link building is working:
- Track referring domains over time in Search Console's Links report and one third-party tool. Look for steady growth from relevant sites.
- Check the quality of each new link manually. Is the site real, relevant and visited by people?
- Watch rankings for the pages you are building links to, not your whole site.
- Measure organic clicks and conversions for those pages in Search Console and analytics.
- Use authority scores only as a rough comparison between prospects, never as the goal.
Questions people still ask about Google PageRank
Can I still check my Google PageRank?
No. Google stopped showing public PageRank on April 15, 2016. Any website claiming to show your "Google PageRank" today is showing an estimate or a different metric.
Does Google still use PageRank?
Yes. Google says PageRank continues to be part of its core ranking systems, although it has evolved a lot since Google launched.
Is Domain Authority the same as PageRank?
No. Domain Authority is a Moz metric, and Domain Rating is an Ahrefs metric. They try to estimate link strength using each tool's own data. Google does not use them.
Are "high PR" links worth buying?
No. Buying links for ranking purposes breaks Google's spam policies, and the "PR" figures sellers quote are years out of date or invented. Earn links through useful content and real relationships instead.
Building links that matter after the green bar
In brief, the retirement of Toolbar PageRank in 2016 removed a stale, misleading number that had fuelled link spam for years. Google kept PageRank inside its ranking systems, but took away the public score that people bought and sold.
The lesson still applies today with DA, DR and other scores: focus on links that real people would click and that make sense for your business, not on a number in a tool.
If you want help building a clean, effective link profile, or cleaning up a risky one, explore our SEO services, see our penalty recovery help, or get a free quote.
Google updates around the same time
Before this update:
- AMP in Google Mobile Search (February 2016): The Top Stories Carousel Arrives (Feb 2016)
- Google Removes Right-Side Ads (February 2016): The Four-Ad Top Block (Feb 2016)
After this update:
- Google's Second Mobile-Friendly Update (May 2016): Strengthening the Mobile Signal (May 2016)
- The Possum Update (2016): Local Filtering Changes Explained (Sep 2016)
Or browse every Google update on one timeline, newest first.
Sources for this Toolbar PageRank guide
- Search Engine Land: Google confirms it is removing Toolbar PageRank
- Search Engine Watch: Google is killing off PageRank from its Toolbar
- Search Engine Land: Google Toolbar PageRank officially goes dark
- Search Engine Land: RIP Google PageRank score, a retrospective on how it ruined the web
- Wikipedia: PageRank
- Google Search Central: A guide to Google Search ranking systems
- Google Search Central: Spam policies for Google web search
- Ahrefs: Domain Rating explained
