Google PageRank Primer - Page Rank Numbers and What They Mean
(Page 2 of 5 )
PageRank Numbers
Note carefully that PageRank is for each individual web page, not the entire web site as a whole. Every page in the Google data base has its own PageRank. In other words, sites don’t have "rank." Rather, every separate page on your web site has its own PageRank.
Incoming links for web pages are, in the opinion of Google, votes in favor of that page. On the other hand, Google considers some votes to be more important than others. The simple number of incoming links to a page is calculated by Google, but the relative importance of the "voting page" is given even more weight in the mathematical formula.
The pages that are considered to be more important votes, in turn increase the importance of the page they link. More important pages pass along more voting power. This is measured numerically as PageRank.
The PageRank numbers range from 0 to 10. These numbers are usually expressed as PR0 (for PageRank 0) to PR10 (for PageRank 10).
What do these numbers mean?
First of all, you need to find out what your PageRank is, for every page on your web site. To do that, you can download the Google Toolbar. It can be found at http://toolbar.google.com/ and can be downloaded and installed in your browser in just a few minutes.
Note: Unfortunately, the Google Toolbar is not available from Google for Mac users.
When the Google Toolbar is loaded, you will see a green line shaded from left to right, located under the word PageRank. Wave your mouse over the gauge, and words will appear stating the Google PageRank "importance" of the page being examined. The Toolbar will give you the PageRank for every web page you visit.
A PR0 page will show a blank white gauge, while a PR10 page will have the entire PageRank indicator filled in, with green from side to side.
When a page has a PR0, it is either below the threshold for a PR1 in Pagerank, is a brand new page, or is under a penalty from Google. Pages that show a gray colored bar, in place of green or white, are either not included in the Google index, or are under a substantial penalty for violations of Google’s rules.
Next: What is the Difference in PageRank Importance? >>
More Google Optimization Articles
More By Wayne Hurlbert
