Google PageRank and How to Get It

[compar]

I've just published a new article called "Google PageRank and How to Get It" in my InfoPool.

I would appreciate anyone who wants to proof read it and get back to me with corrections or suggestions.

Also if anyone wants to publish it feel free as long as you include the author's credits.

[fathom]

Each link to a page carries with it, or passes to that page, PR points or value depending on it's own PR value. (its)

........

It is general agreed that a page will only pass about 85% of it's value to the page it links to. So a PR5 page with a single outbound link would pass 85% of the value of a PR5 page to the page it linked to. (its)

........

It also shows how much PR value or PR points a page with 50 outbound links will pass depending on of it's own PR rank. From this I have calculated the number of links required from each value of PageRank necessary for a page to attain a desired page rank. (its)

In simplest terms PR is calculated by the sharing of PR from all the IBL links to your page. This is not strictly accurate because Google also uses the internal links within a site in the calculation of PR. Each link to a page carries with it, or passes to that page, PR points or value depending on it's own PR value. And depending on the total outbound links from the page.

Difficult topic to drop to a basic level to be sure but would think that all the "or" makes it more confusing. Also might be better to stay with a single vantagepoint (always referencing everything from IBL residence page or always from "your page" e.g. the readers page.

Switching back and forth between the two will often lose the reader.

Didn't get by the first section compar (for proofing anyway) nice read though - will try more later.

[Dave Hawley]

It is generally agreed that a page will only pass about 85% of its value to the page it's links to. So a PR5 page with a single outbound link would pass 85% of the value of a PR5 page to the page it's linked to.

I think the US spelling of generally may only have 1 "l" ?

It also shows how much PR value, or PR points, a page with 50 outbound links will pass depending on of its own PR rank. From this I have calculated the number of links required from each value of PageRank necessary for a page to attain a desired page rank.

Google's PageRank (PR) is one of the most sought after, and yet misunderstood, web page attributes. PageRank, named for after one of the founders of the Google search engine, Larry Page, was the innovative foundation that the Google search engine was built on.

The theory was that a link from one web site page to another web site or page was in essence a vote for that page. The reasoning was that webmasters would only link to pages that they thought were interesting and of value to their viewers. Google used the number of inbound links (IBL) to a page to judge the importance and relevance of that page, and based on this calculation helpdecided where to place that page on the search results page (SERP).


They devised a scale of measurement for PageRank from 1 to 10 100. Then, for the information of webmasters and interested people, they produced a toolbar that can be deployed in Internet Explorer that will indicate the PageRank value of any page being viewed in the browser. These values have become known as PR0 to PR10.

Since PR values are a result of IBLs, Google decided to give them their own name and refers to inbound links as backlinks. As part of the toolbar there is a quick lookup of the number of backlinks that Google reports shows a sample of for the page that is currently being viewed in the browser. This search can also be done without the aid of the toolbar by simply typing "link:http://www.yourURL.com" into the Google search box.

The one trick to this link search is that Google only displays backlinks from pages with a value of PR4 or greater. So this is not a reliable measure of all IBLs to a page.

No longer true

[compar]

Thanks Fathom and Dave. I have incorporated the changes and suggestions you made. I think the article is better now.

Please let me know anything else you spot.

[Dave Hawley]

Hi Bob

Happy to help. One more thing though:) you say this

"The theory was that a link from one web page to a web page of another site was in essence a vote for that page."

This will often confuse people into believing that all pages are seen in the same way by Google when it comes time to pass on PR. I would change it to;

The theory was that a link from one web page to a web page of another site was a democratic vote for that page.

I believe the word democraticis very important. It is used ob Google brief explanation of PR.

[ADAM Web Design]

Okay, my turn!

* gets the Barry Bonds Sam Bat (made right here in Canada, by the way) out *

Okay...first of all...your chart. Your calculations may be mathematically precise, but they're realistically wrong (assuming I'm reading it correctly).

For example, one cannot gain 0.607 of a link. Round this up to 1.
Another example concerns your upper range for PR10. I do realize that you base your Links for PR5, 6, 7, and 8 off the median calculation; however, this is incorrect for the reason stated earlie.

So remove the upper range and median (since there really isn't any) and replace PR for 5, 6, 7, and 8 with...you guessed it...1.

Now...on to other stuff:

The one trick to this link search is that Google does not display all backlinks. At one time it was thought that they only listed pages with a value of PR4 or greater. Today however, you will find backlinks reported from pages of lower PR values. So, at best, Google's backlink search seems to present some sample of pages linking to the site. Suffice it to say that this search is not a reliable measure of all IBLs to a page.

...

I would add a line that would read as follows:

"If you would like a more accurate (but still not 100% correct) summary of your backlinks, go to www.yahoo.com and type link:(your site) in the search box."

Next...

But virtually no page has only a single link -- remember internal links are also used in the total outbound link count -- so the value passed to any page is 85% of the PR, divided by the total number of outbound links.

At this point, you really should put the formula with some examples. It's hard to understand when it's just a written description. Just the numbers, baby! Just the numbers!

Other than that...pretty much what everyone else said. It's midnight and I'm not famous yet, so that's all I can come up with.

[Mel]

They devised a scale of measurement for PageRank from 1 to 10. Then for the information of webmasters and interested people they produced a toolbar that can be deployed in Internet Explorer that will indicate the PageRank value of any page being viewed in the browser. These values have become known as PR0 to PR10.

This IMO tends to perpetuate the myth that Google uses the tags shown on the ToolBar as actual PR in thier calculations.

PageRank as originally devised did NOT have a scale of 1 to 10 nor does it now.

In the interests of accuracy you would IMO be better off to explain the differences, and usefulness of both true PR and the little green bar on the Google toolbar.

In a recent inteview this exchange took place:

"...Chris: How useful do you think the PageRank information is on the toolbar for a) normal users b) webmasters c) search engine optimization professionals?

Google: The PageRank information on the Google Toolbar is an estimate and is intended only for informational purposes. Many users have found it interesting and webmasters have been known to use it as a measure of
their performance. However, because it is a rough estimate, the value to search engine optimization professionals is limited...