I was talking to a potential customer last week and they raised the question of Page Rank, while another was ringing me up with a worried tone in their voice as their Page Rank had dropped from 4 to 2 overnight. These sorts of conversations are not new, but do show how people worry about how Goolge 'view' their pages, perhaps more so than any actor that of the critics of the press. It goes to show just how powerful Google has become these days.
But What is Page Rank?
I'm not going to go very deeply into this (it gets very very mathematical) but I can give you an idea of how it works. Basically Page Rank is a ranking system, the rank based on the supposed 'importance' of any page on any website in the World.
This importance is calculated from the 'importance factor' passed on when page A links to page B (B being the one whose Page Rank is being assessed). If it was just a matter of counting the number of links to a page and using that to find it's Page Rank the job would be easy, but not very accurate (at least in Google's eyes) so they go one (well OK several) steps further.
Not Just the Number of Linking Pages
So, if it's not just the number of linking pages, how is Page Rank calculated, what is the additional 'magic formula'? This is where it gets complicated, as before a page can pass on 'importance' to another page, its own 'importance' (Page Rank) must be assessed. This of course means looking at the pages that link to it, and thus the ones that link to them and so on. You can see why this is a job of a (very big) computer and in essence goes on for ever and ever. All I can really tell you is that somehow, Google produce a Page Rank for a page and then, when it links out, pass on a fraction of that importance, as Page Rank, to all the pages that that page links too, the 'importance' of that page being divided amongst all those outgoing links.
It is obvious then, that a page with lots of links out of it, passes on less 'importance' to each of the pages it links too, than a page with just a couple of links on it. This is just one of the reasons that those links pages that you see on sites, in reality add little in the battle for Page Rank, there being so many links out of that one page, a page that will have scarce little importance to pass on in the first place.
It is also obvious that a link from a page with a high Page Rank is going to pass on more importance, hence the reason you pay more for links from a High Page Rank page (if you buy them that is - please be careful here)
Just How Accurate is Page Rank?
This is a moot point, I have heard some pundits say that the score you see in the Google tool bar can be widely inaccurate, while others still worship it like a God and will not dispute it. For my part I have seen a Page rank of 5/10 on a page in a site with just 5 pages, and not one single link in from any other site?, so I am not totally convinced of its accuracy, but it is a useful guide and I always like to see it go up.
The Importance Behind Page Rank
What really matters though, is not the actual Page Rank figure, but what is behind it. You see what it is the number of links to a page in a site, how those links have been created and yes, how influential is the page which holds the outgoing link, that really counts.
My view is a simple one, get in as many links as you can from a wide range of page types, with a wide range of 'importance' (and IP address) all the time using that most valuable resource the 'anchor text' (the bit you would click on) wisely - more on that another time. Sure, if you can land a link from a Education or Government site, or one like the BBC, then great, but if not, look at it as a numbers game, sure has worked that way for our customers over the years.
There is more to this subject (Page Rank Sculpting for example), but that will do for today
More soon
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