For the non Search Engine Techie, Google PageRank™ is a value Google places on your page with a number between one and ten. Generally the more important a page is, with links back to the page from other well ranked websites, will improve the PageRank from Google for any particular page.
Here is what Google says about PageRank
PageRank Explained
PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at considerably more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; for example, it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves “important” weigh more heavily and help to make other pages “important.” Using these and other factors, Google provides its views on pages’ relative importance. Read more about Google Technology.
To view a Google PageRank for any web page is as simple as installing the Google Toolbar with PageRank turned on.
Much has been talked about over the years by people on the inside at Google, and those in the Search Engine Optimization, SEO world concerning PageRank. While PageRank was at the heart of the Google algorithm for page ranking within the search engine results pages, I believe PageRank has evolved over time to be only one aspect of a page ranking well within the search engine results pages.
First off, just from the shear numbers of pages being published online, and to only have a page ranking system from 1 to 10 does not leave much room for scores on new websites that have great information, but have only been around for a short period of time.
During one of my visits (a couple of years ago) to Google, I spoke with one of the Google Engineers about the PageRank issue. I mentioned to him that I seemed to notice that the PageRank for the majority of sites was being adjusted from time to time with lower PageRank values than what was previously assigned to the website or more specifically the web pages. He gave me the impression that was indeed what was happening with PageRank across the whole Google Search landscape, but because it was being applied to everything in general, that it would not matter that much from a search perspective. In essence because all sites are being equally applied to the same Google PageRank scoring perspective, that the overall search engine results rankings would not significantly change. It’s kind of like grading on the curve. The top guys still have their top scores and the bottom guys still have the bottom scores.
Google PageRank Scoring System
My suspicion is that Google has a PageRank scoring system that is more than a 1 to 10. Google displays only the PageRank they want to show. What I mean by this is that Google probably has a ranking system of 1 to 100 or even 1 to 1000 or more, but they choose to only display it from 1 to 10 for your grade (so to speak). Maybe the algorithm is more like a curve than a straight line or some combination of both. But, however it is, their interest is to show the most relevant pages for any particular search result, regardless of PageRank values.
Many in the SEO world cry out when their PageRank takes a drop on some key websites. This is very naive of everyone to suggest that Google is doing this to punish a website or websites in general. Get off the PageRank bandwagon. Even sites or web pages right now that do not have a PageRank ranking (tongue tied) or a PageRank value being displayed of “0” probably does have a hidden ranking in the search algorithm. Google just chooses not to display the value.
I wonder, would it make any difference if Google displayed a PageRank value between 1 to 100 to the Internet world?
Time will tell.
As always, have a great Web day and stop by and say hello to Jim.
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