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Google PageRank on a Mac?

Dave, I've been reading and hearing about Google's mythical PageRank for quite a while, but what bugs me is that I haven't figured out how to ascertain my PageRank on a Mac. I know that Google has their Google Toolbar for Windows, but I don't want to have Windows just for that purpose! Sheesh. What's a guy to do?

Dave's Answer:

Great news, actually. In the last few weeks a couple of different - really quite different - options have arisen. The most exciting perhaps is the new Google Toolbar for Firefox, which works on both Mac and Windows versions of Firefox.

As soon as I saw it, I promptly downloaded it while running Firefox, then clicked "yes" to the installation question. I restarted and was rather surprised to have a Terms of Service window to click through:

Installing the Google Toolbar for Firefox

Not a big deal, but I've never had to agree to specific terms of service before I could proceed! Then, ta-daa:

Once I did agree to the terms, I'm delighted to have a Google Toolbar on my Mac because, like you, I am always curious about my PageRank (and I also am part of an ad network that pays for small text links on high PR sites: contact me if you'd like a referral).

The other way to check PageRank on a Mac is through Mac OS X Tiger's cool Dashboard system:

Google PageRank Dashboard Widget for Mac

This particular widget, formally called Google PR Widget, can be downloaded from author Ran Aroussi's widget directory. It's simple, elegant, and so far as I've tested it, the results are completely consistent with what the Google Toolbar reports.

Of course, how important is PageRank? Well, I talk about it in great detail in my upcoming book Growing Your Business with Google and I also talk about it here on this weblog too, in my articles on Google PageRank. In a nutshell, PR probably affects how often and quickly your site is spidered and it likely has some small effect on your search engine results, but it's not the magic elixir to get #1 placement on Google. If only.

Anyway, those two options will give you different ways to answer your question and track PageRank. In their own ways, both are excellent tools.

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Categorized: Mac OS X Help , Search Engine Optimization (Article 4065)
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Comments

For those of us not on Tiger yet, Konfabulator has a Google pagerank widget that works with Safari. It doesn't work with Firefox, though.

Posted by: Susan Midlarsky at July 12, 2005 10:39 AM

I just wish there were a simple plugin to display pagerank within safari..without the need for a toolbar or switching to another browser.

Posted by: Jason Sanzone at January 31, 2007 3:53 PM

For those of us not on Tiger yet, Konfabulator has a Google pagerank widget that works with Safari. It doesn't work with Firefox, though.

Posted by: sohbet at March 27, 2007 10:44 AM

Does anybody knows, where to download pagerank plugin for safari? does it exists?

Thanks

Posted by: Kirill Morozov at March 30, 2007 5:57 AM

Nice writeup. Thanks.

I would just like to add that Google Toolbar for Firefox is well-known (well, to a degree) to freeze and de-stabilize Firefox (like Firefox just stops responding, stops loading pages, etc).
Don't know if it's a Firefox problem or Google's problem, but I'd say this plugin should be the first one you should try to uninstall in case of the fore-mentioned problems with Firefox.

Posted by: Mike at July 23, 2007 8:43 PM

you should enable "view source" code on example projects

Posted by: kelebek at November 19, 2007 2:12 AM

I still expect a plugin for Safari to systematically checks the PR, just like Firefox does. Just because Safari is much faster.

Posted by: Fred at May 10, 2008 9:42 AM

Another thing: I've just installed this "Google PR widget", the problem is that it gives the domain PR, not the PR of the page...=> useless

Posted by: Fred at May 10, 2008 9:47 AM

Hey Dave I had heard Apple was working with Google on a few different things and an extension for Google's toolbar was something that was in the works, do you know if there's any truth to that?

Posted by: Donovan Roddy at May 15, 2008 9:07 PM

thanks for the guide!

Posted by: Jake at March 11, 2009 11:15 AM

thnX admin

Posted by: sikiş at June 17, 2009 10:28 AM

I downloaded the Google PR widget from the Apple site but I just can't get it to work. I enter a URL, hit enter and just nothing happens - am I being really dumb?

Posted by: Magoo at August 28, 2009 5:37 AM

i have downloaded this program and it works great for pagerank, thx !

Posted by: depannage informatique at September 30, 2009 8:09 AM

Thanks for the info Dave. Looks like I'm off to start using firefox again dammit!

Posted by: Photographer London at October 13, 2009 3:42 PM

I have a lot to say, but ...

I have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but most of all I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a chai!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!