Google’s PageRank:

Page rank was developed at Stanford University by Larry Page and later by Sergay Brin as part of a research project about the innovation of a new type of search engine. The undertaking began in 1995 and developed into a fully functional prototype, named Google, in 1998. Shortly thereafter, Page and Brin co-founded Google Inc., the company behind the Google search engine. Among many of the factors that determine the ranking of Google search results, PageRank continues to provide the basis for all of Google’s web search tools.

The Google Toolbar’s PageRank feature displays a visited page’s PageRank as a whole number between 0 and 10. The most popular websites have a PageRank of 10. The least popular websites have a PageRank of 0. Google has not divulged the exact methodology they utilize to determine a Toolbar PageRank value. Google has publicly stated that the Toolbar PageRank values are republished approximately once every three months, indicating that the Toolbar PageRank values are historical rather than real-time values.

Google describes page rank:

“PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page 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 more than the sheer volume of or votes a page receives; 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 very important.”

In short, a PageRank results from a “ballot” among all the other pages on the World Wide Web about how important a page is. A hyperlink to a webpage counts as a vote of support. The PageRank of a page is defined recursively and dependant on the number and PageRank metric of all pages that link to it (“incoming links”). A page that itself linked to other pages with a high PageRank receives a heightened rank itself. If there are no links to a web page there is no support for that page.

In a nutshell PageRank’s value to a website’s owner is that it clearly illustrates the importance of their website on the stage of the World Wide Web and how much site TRAFFIC the page is receiving. Gauging one’s site traffic will show a direct correlation between site traffic and sales. The more people who visit a site the greater the likelihood they will convert as well as revisit you site. PageRank is purely a measurement of popularity and you most certainly want to maintain a high PageRanking.

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