This is an eternal question. Search engine optimizers would remain glued to their computer screen to take in the first hint of any PageRank update as and when that occurs. And when it occurs, it will be an anxious wait till the dust settles, before scurrying off to rework ways to claw back in ranking in case the new PR reduces.
Why so much bother? Does PageRank really matter? The short answer is yes, PageRank does matter, but not as much as it is made out to be. Let us talk things over.
What we know
The first lesson on PageRank will be an unquestionable reference to what Google says. According to Google [http://www.google.com/technology/], PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value.
Elaborating, Google says 2 things. One, more the number of incoming links to a webpage, more is the number of votes for that page. But then comes the second rider. According to Google, it also analyzes the page that sends links and attempts to figure out how important or relevant this page (rather its content) is vis–vis the page which it links to.
Broadly...