What could kill Google’s Page Rank algorithm?

The internet began as a fish market. There was a lot of noise and a lot of energy but no real system for people to search things online. Then came Google with its Page Rank Algorithms and managed to index web pages more efficiently and relevantly than any other website.

This made Google search the internet giant it is today. But will this giant be in trouble in the future? Could Google’s Page Rank Algorithm end up being irrelevant in the future? The answer probably lies with social networks.

What exactly is Google Page Rank?

Google calculates the Rank of a webpage based on the number of backlinks it has. A backlink is considered to be a like a vote or recommendation by one website to another. This backlink is also comparatively weighted as a backlink from a website with page rank 10 is better than page rank 1.

So basically now search results and its relevancy is really calculated by the Page Rank and keyword relevancy. Higher Page Rank usually means higher organic traffic to your website. That’s why you will see bloggers every 3 months getting excited about Google Page Rank updates.

So how could Google Page Rank’s die?

No, it is not going to happen in the next 2-3 years and it will probably take a decade for Internet traffic to be less dependent on Page Rank. The threat for Page Rank comes from Twitter and Facebook.

• A lot of people ReTweet something they find interesting or share on Facebook. They subscribe to blogs by looking up Facebook pages and Twitter handles. I know many people who never visit DW site but only look up random posts on Facebook.
• The impact of social networks on internet traffic was never really factored in by Google. This leaves a gaping hole in Google giving a high rank to a web pages on the number of links. Today with almost every mobile phone has a Twitter and Facebook app. Many people look for best options to buy things online by taking opinions of their friend on Social Networks.
• Now Google and its backlinks system is still pretty much the most perfect way to value a website as far as relevancy is concerned but what if Facebook keeps growing its influence like it has for the next 5 years?
• Will a Facebook “Like” be more important than a back-link? I think there is a chance that it might happen and when it happens it could spell the beginning of the end of Google’s Page Rank Algorithm.

Are social networks overrated?

Are social networks and their influence a little overated? Most social networks grow large enough on investor money and become truly large. Then they get sold to a very large company like Microsoft or Google.

Twitter has still not really started to monetize its website and Facebook numbers are also not as impressive when it comes to earnings through their advertising platforms. So are social networks after all destined to be not really big money spinners? If so, then Google probably has nothing to fear form Facebook.

But then again, I am sure 10 years ago someone was writing somewhere that Microsoft had nothing fear from Google. 😛

What are your thoughts on how internet traffic will be generated in the future? Do drop in your views through your comments.

Image Credits: bharathreddypunuru

Link: CNN