If you are wondering what is PageRank, to explain in brief, Google PageRank or PR is one of the many methods with the help of which web pages are ranked. Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page developed the same at Stanford University.
Every web page is assigned a score that determines its rank in terms of quality as well as the quantity of the links, the web pages have. This assessment is usually done once Google crawler has done its job of crawling through the pages.
So, how do you assess the value of a page?
In the language of a layman, it is the link that connects between pages that implies the importance of the web page.
Calculation of PageRank (PR)
As per the theory that governs the calculation, it is assumed that an “imaginary” visitor clicks randomly on links, and at one point in time, he stops doing so. This is usually referred to as the “dampening factor”.
Mathematically, the “total value of the pages” gets dampened by multiplying by 0.85. This is just an assumed value.
Also, assumed is that the “average sum of all pages” is equal to one. As such, for a page that has no links, it still gets a value of 0.15. Having links basically means you have voted since these links help to ascertain from what value website a particular link is being directed to another website.
So, if the link is coming from a high authority website, it contributes to the value of the page.
It is assumed that the search engine major recalculates PR scores, every time it crawls a web page. On expansion, however, the PageRank decreases in approximation.
Ideally, web crawlers give preference to the older pages since it is assumed that these pages will have a greater number of links as compared to the new pages that may not have quality links connecting to the pages.
The PageRank algorithm is modeled as the behavior of a randomized Web surfer; which can be seen as Markov chain to predict the behavior of a system that travels from one state to another considering the current condition.
Although Google’s secret formula for PageRank algorithm ranking web pages is still a mystery, most of the SEO stalwarts drew up a formula that was closest to the search engine major’s criteria for PR and worked out ways to unveil the secret to Google PageRank algorithm. The movement of PR or PageRank takes place between external and internal links.
