PR(A) = (1-d) + d (PR(T1)/C(T1) + … + PR(Tn)/C(Tn)) I know what you are thinking – what in the heck is that strange line of characters and why does it have anything to do with me and my webpage?
Simply, the formula above lies at the heart of the Google PageRank system. PageRank, which was developed by Google founder Larry Page, is part of the system that Google employs to determine where your website falls on their search result page. You can imagine then just how important this little formula is to the success of your website.
The actual formula itself is complicated. In fact, numerous theoretical and academic papers have been written on the formula. For our purposes, it is important to realize that PageRank places an important role in the ranking of sites through Google only. Other Search Engines utilize different patented algorithms.
PageRank carries with it a US Patent, although Google itself does not hold that patent, Stanford University does. What Google does have is exclusive licensing rights to the formula. This means that Google is the only search engine that uses PageRank.
It looks confusing, but by understanding the theory behind the formula, you can begin to see how to improve your site and thereby improve your rankings.
First, it’s important to realize that the formula is, in large part, based on ‘votes.’ Google considers links on your page ‘votes.’ These are rated and scored and form the basis of PageRank. Google ranks each and every website with a value, 0 – 10. Backlinks, the number, the quality and the relevance of these Backlinks are a major component of PageRank determination. There are many other factors as well all relating to elements that can easily be found at the Google site in the Google Webmaster Guidelines.
In order to protect PageRank from black hat SEO techniques, Google has opted to not provide further information about what other factors and criteria PageRank uses to rank individual pages. This prevents spamdexing (practices designed to manipulate search engine rankings and spoofing).
You can get the PageRank of any website just by using the Google Toolbar which is an option of any of the major browser software. PageRank should not be confused with SERP Ranking; they are not the same thing. SERP stands for Search Engine Result Page. Every time you do a search the resulting page is the SERP. PageRank influences the SERP but is clearly different.
We know for a fact that the age of a domain, the number of relevant backlinks a site has, directory listings such as DMOZ, Business.com and the Yahoo Directory all help Pagerank. Although Google (especially Matt Cutts) has repeated many times not to pay too much attention to pagerank, it’s still an indicator of progress. However, it’s the part of the SERP algorithm, a pagerank 3 site could rank higher than a pagerank 4 site. It’s NOT the unique identifier.
As you can see, PageRank is an integral part of receiving a greater number of hits for your website. Because Google has released so little information on the other underlying factors regarding the functionality of PageRank, your only option for ranking higher with PageRank is to increase the number of incoming links your site has. For this reason, it is important to actively engage in a link building campaign.
Clearly, you can only influence your PageRank by doing the “hard things” that will separate your website from your competition. Link Building, by name, doesn’t really tell the story because there are many ways to get links; however, the best links are backlinks and the best backlinks are those that are not paid for, naturally occurring and highly relevant. This is the essence of SEO.
Contact us to build your PageRank … because it’s what we do so very well. It’s our passion!
December 2, 2009
