Why Is It Called PageRank?

PageRank is the underlying paradigm shift that catapulted Google to fame. PageRank is a trademark of Google and was developed at Stanford University by Larry Page (hence the name Page Rank) and Sergey Brin as part of a project researching a new search engine. The project took three years to complete and led to the functional prototype known as Google and later became the full-fledged search engine we know now. While PageRank is just one of the many factors which determine the ranking of Google search results, it continues to provide the basis of Google's algorithm.

What Is PageRank?

PageRank is a probability distribution function used to represent the likelihood that a person randomly clicking on links will arrive at any particular page. PageRank can be calculated for any-size collection of documents (for example: the worldwide web). PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link (see Linking) from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But Google looks at more than the just the volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the linking page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves 'important' weigh more heavily and help to make other pages 'important'. Of course, important pages mean nothing to you if they don't match your search term. So Google combines PageRank with hundreds of other factors to find pages that are both important and relevant to your search. Google goes far beyond the number of times a term appears on a page and examines all aspects of the page's content (and the content of the pages linking to it) to determine if it's a good match for your query.

How Do I Increase My PageRank?

Simply attracting more links from as many sites as possible will increase your PageRank over time. Aquiring links from high authority sites that are relevant to your industry will increase your PageRank much faster. As a result, a cottage industry has emerged of link sellers, buyer, brokers and rental outfits. Using these services is perilous for inexperienced users as Google works hard to determine which links are legitimate, editorially given endorsements, and which ones are available to the highest bidder. The entire link buying market undermines PageRank as a legitimate judge of the quality of a site. To combat this, Google has developed new "rented link" detection methods as well as algorithm changes that make it (only slightly) less link driven. To safely increase your site's inbound link count and quality, it is best to get the advice of a link building expert.