So, the question has been raised. Is Google Page Rank still relevant?

I agree with Darren, that Page Rank is relevant for some things:

Google’s Page Rank isn’t anywhere near as important as it has been previously - however I don’t completely write it off. I suspect that it still plays a part in how Google ranks sites in its results - but another important factor is that page rank can still be an important factor in working out how much to sell ads on your blog for… in terms of Search Engine Rankings I’m not sure Page Rank is as relevant as it previously has but in terms of grading the value of a blog for other purposes it remains one of the few tools people use and therefore is helpful.

I agree with all of the above, but have some thoughts to add.

First comes from my personal example: our eldest site, Blogaholics, manages to get a ton of new readers each and every day, despite being “sandboxed”. Our new readers come from other blogs, links, and come very strongly from MSN. I am sure we may grow faster if we had a stronger Google presence, but are not overly worse off for the low PageRank. In this case, I would say PageRank plays a part in the growth factor, but is not a measure to lay all your success on.

The one other thing I would add concerns where your business comes from. For some reason, certain businesses get more customers from Google than other. Perhaps has something to do with demographics and psychographics - different people using different engines. For example, though more highly rated on MSN and Yahoo for key phrases, at work we still drive nearly 80% of new customers from Google. So, in this sense, PageRank is crucial. Just some food for thought.