Google PageRank Primer
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As people become more familiar with the process of optimizing their web sites for rankings in Google, the term PageRank appears in many of their discussions. In fact, lately, we’re reading and hearing a lot about Google PageRank. The purpose of this article is not to be a definitive answer on the topic of Google PageRank (or PR). Instead, it provides some basic answers, to some frequently asked questions regarding PR.
What Exactly is PageRank Anyway?
PageRank (spelled as one word) is a trademarked technology, belonging to the search engine Google. It was designed as a numerical system of ranking the relative importance of web pages, created at Stanford University in California, by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The concept they used was, in Google’s own words, to calculate the "uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value."
If Google’s definition is taken literally, the entire system rests on the incoming and outgoing links, from the billions of web pages that form the internet. On the surface, the system seems simple enough. If web page A links to web page B, Google considers web page A as actually voting for the importance of web page B.
Of course, like anything else in life, the reality is far more complicated than what it first seems.
Be sure to always keep in mind that PageRank is not the same thing as your site’s ranking on the search engine results pages (SERPs). They are entirely separate items. PR is the relative importance of a page on the web, expressed as a number. The SERPs are where your site appears on a search for your keywords.
Next: Page Rank Numbers and What They Mean >>
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