Google PageRank Algorithm System Uncovered: The Fundamentals of How Google Ranks Pages

Google PageRank algorithm is one of Google’s most important and game-changing introductions ever. Being one of the oldest algorithms in existence, this has played a crucial role in SEO strategies and web page rankings. As the name implies, PageRank is used primarily for the ranking of websites on search results and was one of the first and best-known ones. In this blog, we’ll discuss what is Google PageRank, learn the fundamentals and how you can use it to improve your SEO efforts, let’s get started.

The Birth Of PageRank (PR)

PageRank was developed in 1996 as part of a university research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google. According to them, they wanted to invent a system to estimate the authority of web pages. SEO Google Pagerank was the basis on which Google search was developed. The idea behind PageRank was simple: to rank web pages based on the quality and quantity of links to them. Google PageRank Algorithm was primarily designed for: 

Identify useful & valuable content: Based on the links received, the system decided which were the most valuable among them.

Discourage unethical practices: Since SEO Google Pagerank values quality over quantity, the algorithm was designed to prevent ways to artificially increase their rankings.

Sort contents based on authority: PageRank involved creating a webpage hierarchy which allowed Google to find out which web pages had the most authority

How does Google Pagerank work

The SEO Google Pagerank algorithm usually calculates the probability or likelihood that an individual who clicks on any of the random links will arrive at a specific webpage. The algorithm then assigns a weight between 0 and 1 to the particular webpage that is more likely to be clicked. What happens next is that the weight of this intended page is used by the algorithm to assign even weight to each of the page’s outgoing links. 

Suppose, SEO Google Pagerank has calculated a page with a value of 0.5 and it links to two other outgoing links, the algorithm will assign the value evenly to those pages which is 0.25 each. In mathematical terms, a simple version of the PageRank algorithm is expressed as:

Source: Wikipedia

Here the PageRank, PR(u) of any webpage is the total summation of all pages that are linking to the particular web page’s PageRank divided by the number of links each page has. Now that you know how does Google Pagerank work, let’s move on to learn about the various Google PageRank factors.

Understanding The Google PageRank factors

Even though PageRank ranked webpages based on the quality and quantity of links received, other Google PageRank factors influenced the overall rank since not all of the links were equal in terms of SEO. Let’s see what they are:

Internal Links

Internal links are important and these are highly powerful for improving your website’s basic SEO. Having internal links allows PageRank to crawl through your website and is a good strategy to drive authority to any unlinked pages to and from.

Anchor Text

Any clickable text in a link attached to it is termed the anchor text. This was one of the key factors that influenced a web page’s rankings during Google’s early days. However, at present, the search engine giant considers anchor text manipulation as a form of link spam.

Website Age

Another important Google PageRank factors for determining PageRank was a website’s age. The older the website is, the higher the chances are to get ranked. This is because older websites had more weight and more time to build their inbound links, keyword density, etc.

Nofollow links

Nofollow links are web links containing the rel=”nofollow” attribute. Nofollow was introduced by Google and various other search engines in 2005. What this value does is tell search crawlers to not follow a link and help prevent link equity distribution. This was mainly used by SEOs to direct the flow of PageRank and pass more weight to followed links.

How to increase PageRank in Google

Despite Google PageRank algorithm no longer existing in its original form, it still matters today because it’s used by Google. Understanding PageRank not only helps you insightful SEO decisions but can also improve organic visibility. If you are looking to increase your site rankings through links, then here are a few of the factors you can work on immediately:

Generate maximum backlinks

Want to learn how to increase PageRank in Google? Use link-building tips and strategies, now that’s a great way to increase your website’s online visibility. Building backlinks by publishing high-quality content organically so that other websites will rank is an important way to achieve more links.

Following the practices

Violating Google’s website linking policies can result in your website getting removed from the search altogether. Some of these violations include having unnatural links such as backlinks from link farms, low-quality paid links, etc. Therefore, it is important to play by the rules to ensure maximum visibility.

Having an internal link structure

If your website has a good internal link structure, this helps Google and other search engines see your site as a trustworthy source of information. It is also important to use internal linking in areas where it would make sense for the reader.

Winding up

Google PageRank update is undoubtedly a significant leap in ranking content and most importantly, helped launch the search engine company we are all familiar with today. Launched in 1996, Does Google still use Pagerank? Even though it was a significant ranking factor, the search engine giant still holds a fundamental value as it still uses reputable links as a factor for ranking. Therefore, if you still see your Google ranking suddenly drop, improving the internal links and generating maximum high-quality backlinks to your website are the best ways to improve your PageRank.

However, when it comes to links, you must be careful about choosing low-quality or paying for links which offer less to zero value. Consulting with a renowned SEO agency in Dubai is a great way to learn about Pagerank and implement the best strategies. And for that, GTECH is your trusted place to get started. Having a team of qualified professionals, we are adept at achieving the highest ranking and online visibility for your brand/business by implementing state-of-the-art marketing strategies. Get in touch with us to learn more.