What is
PageRank?PageRank is
Google’s measure of importance assigned to a web page on a scale of 1
to 10. You can check the PageRank value of any page by downloading the
Google Toolbar.
PageRank
is a secret algorithm which
Google
defines as: "...PageRank continues to provide the basis for all of
our web search tools."
Google also states: "Important, high-quality sites receive a higher
PageRank, which Google remembers each time it conducts a search. Of
course, important pages mean nothing to you if they don't match your
query. So, Google combines PageRank with sophisticated text-matching
techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to your
search. Google goes far beyond the number of times a term appears on a
page and examines all aspects of the page's content (and the content
of the pages linking to it) to determine if it's a good match for your
query."
How does PageRank
work?
PageRank is passed through links. Each
page only has so much PageRank which it can pass to other web
documents. A dampening factor (approximately 85%) is set to allow the
current pages PageRank to propagate through the rest of the web, while
preventing all we pages from being ranked at a 10 or a 0.
The off going PageRank is split up
between all links on that page (including links to other pages within
that site). Therefore a PR 5 link on a page with 10 links is worth way
more than a couple PR 5 link on a page with 100 links. One PR 8 link
may be worth more than a thousand PR 3 links.
The value of any given link is hard to
determine exactly. Generally though less links on a page means that
more of that pages PageRank will be parsed out to your site. Also the
higher the PageRank of a page the more PageRank it can pass on to
other pages.
A page does not lose PageRank by
linking out to other sites (unless it links out to penalized sites),
it just has less PageRank to share amongst the other documents it is
linking to.
PageRank and New Sites:
Another problem with PageRank is that it presents a
bias against new web sites. Currently Google gives new sites a boost
to make up for this, but mixing the new web pages in is very hard to
do. Obviously the Google algorithm errors on to be at least slightly
biased toward PageRank, otherwise they would undermine their entire
ranking system.
Solutions to PageRank Problems
While some fields (such as internet marketing) may
be over represented in the web as a whole usually the best ideas in
any field are the ones which gain high link popularity. Where PageRank
really falls apart is when people rent or sell links across fields.
Build
Link Popularity to Increase PageRank
Building Link Popularity is one of the most critical aspects of search
engine marketing. While manipulation of PageRank is not easy, it is
not difficult to enhance it by improving your link popularity. By
undertaking a long-term link building campaign, you can boost your
site’s PageRank and improve your site ranking significantly.