Many have been wondering why Google still hasn’t gotten around to removing the PageRank feature from the Google ToolBar when apparently, Google itself has downplayed its importance over the past few years. For instance, in 2009, it has removed PageRank values from Google Webmaster Tools. A couple of years later, Google dropped the Google Toolbar for Firefox in 2011. More telling is the fact that there was never a Google Toolbar for Chrome, the search engine giant’s own browser.

So why keep a tool that has all but outlived its relevance, except to spammers? Asked why Google still hasn’t switched the PageRank feature off, Matt Cutts, head of search spam at Google, posted a video that explains why it’s still around.

A Ton of Regular Users of PageRank Feature

In the video, Cutts explains that PageRank feature is still there because a lot of regular searchers and users—by that he means non-SEO pros—still use it as a tool for determining how “reputable” any given website is. After all, that is why Google added the PageRank feature to its toolbar years ago in the first place: to help people who are not that tech-savvy to learn how much Google trusts any given page.

At present, only Internet Explorer has a PageRank feature display, but since IE 10 doesn’t allow add-ons, Cutts says that it won’t come as a surprise to him if the PageRank values in the Google Toolbar just disappear by themselves. Cutts maintains that as long as users are still using PageRank, Google will continue to support it. However, he added that the “writing is on the wall” for the PageRank feature, with new or updated browsers coming out in the near future.

Watch the video below.