I understand reciprocal links should be set up with websites with an equal or higher pagerank.
However, I heard recently that Google is no longer paying any attention to pagerank.
Can anyone confirm if this is true and if so does that mean that pagerank is no longer relevant when considering if a backlink is valuable?
I can’t find anything definite in Google’s Webmaster Tools Help - so no surprises there. 
However:
Maybe it’s just my Vulcan logic, but I can definitely see something wrong with that sentence… 
LOL Yes I know, but not everyone cares about the pagerank of incoming links.
Where did you get that piece of nonsense from?
However, I heard recently that Google is no longer paying any attention to pagerank.
Where did you get that piece of nonesens from?
Can anyone confirm if this is true and if so does that mean that pagerank is no longer relevant when considering if a backlink is valuable?
Pagerank is nothing more than one of >200 factors that Google’s consider when deciding on the ranking of a site, nothing more and nothing less.
I had read some of the discussion on this post. But I am sure this isn’t the first time I have read something about pagerank becoming irrelevant.
Unfortunately as an SEO newbie, it is difficult to know what is correct and what is nonsense.
As a general rule, (i) don’t worry about PageRank, and (ii) don’t target reciprocal links for SEO.
If you think a link in or out of your site is going to be useful for real people then put it in there – because real people are what matters, and real people are what Googlebot is trying to emulate.
Sure, we all build reciprocal links, it’s a natural thing to do, and it often fulfils the sentence above – it gives people a useful way to find another site that’s relevant to them. But if you have too many reciprocal links (as a proportion of your overall link profile), there is a danger that that might start ringing alarm bells in Mountain View, because it starts to look like you might be ‘trading’ links. That doesn’t mean don’t go for reciprocal links, and it doesn’t mean do go for them; it just means that you should concentrate on what links are going to be best for your visitors.
As for PageRank … as far as we know, it’s still in the Google algorithm … but so are over 200 other factors. PageRank is a very minor player, and has been for quite a few years now. At one point it had a much more significant influence over your ranking, but Google quickly realised that such a visible and public measure was just too easy for people to game, so they progressively reduced the contribution it played. It’s far more important to think about the relevance and authority of the site you’re getting links from than the PR – sure, those will often coincide, but that’s just a happy coincidence
I agree. I hear it is only one small piece of the puzzle. I do think it is wise to keep your linkages in good site neighborhoods though. I also agree with using ethical means of gaining links, such as not taking advantage of free social networks but rather by “earning” it and/or paid ads.
This statement says it all. You should focus on other factors that would help your site go up the search results, if that’s your aim (I do think it is).
Anyway, I think the reason why people don’t care about the PageRank anymore is because they’re more focused on creating a genuine relationship with other people online to build links.
Thanks everyone for your input - it has been helpful. But just to clarify…
If I have someone in a related industry who is willing to exchange links but has a PR which is 2 or 3 below mine, should I exchange links?
+1
PageRank of the HomePage of a website, IMHO, is the top factor in Google - Wikipedia has HomePage PageRank of 8 and this is why it is invariably on the top Google results page for those keywords where it has a page. The value of a backlink in terms of linkjuice is calculated as the PR of the website providing the link divided by the number of outgoing links on that page.
The problem with backlinks is that Google removes a little of the value of each link - a sort of Google tax. If two websites reciprocate links of equal value they will each LOSE a little PageRank. It would be great if you could reciprocate with and make a gain but invariably those with significant PageRank (of the linking page) will be wise and will decline.
Nope. Pagerank leak is a myth.
Please provide your evidence for your statement that PageRank leak is a myth.
In fact, if there was no ‘leak’, mathematically the PageRank system would blow up.
If you would like to have a source that explains this - http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/seo-for-bloggers/ at about 8minutes and 15 seconds.
Quality Back links will increase the page rank of website. It is not necessary that PR0 website can not rank at 1st position. If website is relevant to user search query then it can rank higher for that particular search query in SERPs.
If his site’s content is completely related with yours, i.e. no sketchy, suspicious, and spammy content in the midst, then go for it.
Sound advice!!
“As for PageRank … as far as we know, it’s still in the Google algorithm … but so are over 200 other factors. PageRank is a very minor player, and has been for quite a few years now. At one point it had a much more significant influence over your ranking, but Google quickly realised that such a visible and public measure was just too easy for people to game, so they progressively reduced the contribution it played.”
Google tells us “When Google was founded, one key innovation was PageRank, a technology that determined the “importance” of a webpage by looking at what other pages link to it, as well as other data. Today we use more than 200 signals, including PageRank, to order websites …” It is apparent that PageRank relates now to websites and not only to webpages. The best indicator we have for website PageRank is the HomePage PageRank.
High HomePage PageRank does not guarantee high positioning. It equally depends on relevance as determined by on-page factors and the anchor text of incoming links.
The crucial point is that if you take an average of the HomePage PageRanks for the webpages on the top Google results page for a keyword it provides the best indication of keyword difficulty. If your website’s HomePage PageRank is much lower than that average, the chance of top page positioning on Google is remote.
This is not true. The PR is important if you want to get a higher SERP in google. High PR backlinks give more weight to the website they are linking to… So, for example if you link back to another blog from a PR6 and from PR2, the PR6 website will give more weight and will help the website get a higher position in google for the keyword than the PR2 website 
Care to explain why so many PR2 sites outrank PR6 websites?
Because of the number of backlinks they have I am saying that a PR2 gives LESS weight to the backlink than PR6