What is the Page Rank
Page rank is an algorithm created by Google that analyzes and weights the linking structure of a website. The following applies: “The more high-quality links point to a website, the higher the page rank of this website.” It is well known that the higher a website ‘s page rank, the more important it becomes. However, the page rank does not provide any information about the content quality of a website.
Functionality
The page rank value is between zero and ten, whereby it is becoming increasingly difficult to reach a higher level. Websites that are still new on the Internet or pages that have been devalued due to violations receive a page rank of zero.
The principle of link popularity is the orientation of the page rank. The number of inbound links is the main criterion for assessing the relevance of a website. The difference between link popularity and page rank is that page rank does not simply use the number of links and therefore rates a page better. Rather, the page rank is based on the value of the respective linked websites. This means that 3 high-quality, external links have a much better effect on the page rank than, for example, 3 external links. 20 external links from lower quality websites.
The page rank algorithm thus evaluates all documents on the web according to their value or the value of the links.
The following formula was used to calculate the page rank:
PR(A) = (1-d) + d (PR(T1)/C(T1) + … + PR(Tn)/C(Tn))
The following applies:
| PR(A) | Page rank of a page A |
| PR(Ti) | Page rank of the pages Ti from which a link points to page A |
| C(Ti) | Number of links on page Ti |
| d | Attenuation factor 0 <= d <= 1 |
Display of the page rank
With the help of a toolbar for Internet Explorer, Google published the page rank values for the first time in 2000. At that time, the quality rating of a website was not only displayed on a scale of one to ten, but also in a diagram with color-varying bars. Green was for a high page rank and red for a low page rank. However, this page rank toolbar has no longer existed since April 2016. This means that there are no longer any options for displaying the page rank publicly. According to Google, however, the page rank will continue to be used for the evaluation of search results.
The last update to the toolbar was in December 2013 and has not been updated by Google since then.
Random Surfer Model & Reasonable Surfer Model
According to the developers Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the calculation of the page rank is based on the behavior of a random Internet surfer, the so-called “random surfer”. The user is directed to other websites via the links of a randomly selected page. Of course, this process is not endless, as at some point the surfer will run out of steam and abandon the search. This is measured using the aforementioned attenuation factor “d”. The probability that the user will reach another page via a link is comparable to the value of the page rank.
Since users no longer click on links at random, but many other factors also influence their behavior, this principle is now very outdated. This means that it is no longer a random surfer, but a reasonable surfer. With this model, the relevance of the content of the link and the position on the page are particularly relevant. This means that a user is more likely to click on a link that belongs together thematically.
Internal vs. external page rank
According to Google, the internal page rank, i.e. only the page rank visible to Google, is updated regularly. The external or public page rank, on the other hand, is updated only rarely and not at regular intervals.
Page rank for SEO
Page rank only plays a very minor role in the ranking these days, according to Google. Meanwhile, the algorithm is no longer the sole basis for search results. There are now many new factors that influence the ranking of a website and are more important in terms of user experience.
But it is not only because of the new factors that the page rank is becoming increasingly insignificant. In recent years, numerous manipulative methods have become known which cast doubt on the trustworthiness of the page rank. As a result, lively link buying and link exchange transactions developed, in which the page rank functioned as a kind of currency. Page rank has not been abolished in the meantime, but it is less relevant for current SEO measures compared to other factors, as there is no current data on it.
Background information about the page rank
The name does not come from the rank that a website has in the search results, but is due to the developer of the algorithm. Larry Page developed the “Method for node ranking in a linked database” together with Sergey Brin at Stanford University in 1997. These were the first steps taken by Google, whose founders are also Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The basis of Google was, so to speak, the page rank and the first step towards the success of the search engine.