One of the most fascinating aspects of the web is its dynamism. We all know that it develops at an astonishing
speed - yesterday's craze is today's old news, and bigger and better things seem to be springing up every few days.
Some of them crumble quickly into dust, while others seem destined to tower above the rest.
Naturally, search engines also follow this pattern. Some of the early search engine giants remain with us today,
but many of them are gone - and every so often, a new champion seems to emerge. Recent years have seen the growth
and development of a search engine that puts all others to shame. It might have once stood at the same level as
its rivals, but there is no doubt that for now at least, Google rules the web.
Many of the companies we work with see more traffic from Google than all the other search engines put together,
and there are more than a few Search Engine Optimization services that focus almost exclusively on this one engine.
What is Google's Secret?
So why is Google so successful? The answer is simply that when a user goes searching on Google, they're likely to
find what they're looking for, and more quickly than on any other search engine. Exactly how Google manages to do
this is trickier to answer, as they tend to guard their secrets well. They don't want us to know too much about how
they determine their search results, simply because they don't want anyone to be able to manipulate their own
ranking.
Of course, human nature dictates that many of us aren't satisfied with this. We desperately want to be able to affect
the ranking of our sites, and some of us will go to great lengths to do so. We work hard to find the perfect keywords,
tweak our meta tags and optimize the content of our site to what we hope is Google perfection.
But recently, a new word has entered our vocabulary, and is surrounded by so much hype that very few people actually
have a realistic understanding of what it is - or what it isn't. PageRank is where the attention is focused today,
and many companies are determined to find a means of improving their magic number. "I want to be an eight," they
say, as if PageRank was a dress size that they could grow into with the help of some heavy-duty calorie shots.
Unfortunately, it's not quite as easy as that.
So what exactly is PageRank? There's a surprisingly simple answer: it is Google's way of estimating how important
a web page is. On a basic level, Google decides that if one page links to another, the second page must be considered
important. If one page on one site has 15,000 pages linking to it, it must be for a good reason, right?
Page Rank is About Pages, Not Websites
Let's begin by straightening out a few basic points. First of all, PageRank is assigned on a page-by-page basis. A
whole website does not have this score, and different pages within a site can have very different PageRank values
assigned. Another important point is that the rating (out of ten) assigned is essentially little more than an
approximation of a given page's PageRank. The actual values cover a far greater range than zero to ten.
Before going any further, we should take a look at the most important point of all, often overlooked when we get
caught up in the PageRank frenzy. PageRank is only one factor that Google takes into account when displaying the
results of a search. There are still other factors of equal significance in performing well on Google - so don't
make the mistake of thinking that you would live happily ever after if your PageRank was a little bit higher. Other
factors include a page's title, and the use of keywords within the page's text - not in the keyword meta tag.
PageRank is still one of Google's more ingenious strategies, and is certainly one of the many reasons that it stands
head and shoulders above the rest. Partly, this is due to a combination of two factors. First is that the very nature
of PageRank is difficult (but not impossible) to manipulate, and secondly that the exact details of how the value is
assigned is a closely guarded secret.
However, there is one very useful source of data - an academic paper detailing the formula used to calculate PageRank
from Google's early beginnings as a university project. This formula will have certainly been altered and expanded
over the years, but it is generally accepted that it still represents the essence of their PageRank system.
The Page Rank Formula
The exact details are lengthy, and far beyond what I am capable of dissecting. But the basic formula is as follows:
PR(A) = (1-d) + d (PR(T1)/C(T1) + ….. + PR (Tn)/C(Tn))
PR(A) is the PageRank of a particular page (A) - not a website as a whole.
1-d is the dampening factor, as explained below.
PR(T1) is the PageRank of the page that links to our (A) page, and C(T1) is the number of links contained on that
same page.
The formula is repeated throughout every single page that contains a link to this (A) page.
Two important points to take into account. First of all, if you're thinking that the formula would in practice be
an infinite loop, then you're correct. This is the very nature of the web itself, and is also why Google has
introduced the so called dampening factor.
The second point concerns the way that PageRank is awarded by one page to another. The generally accepted means of
understanding this is to consider that a given page has, according to its own PageRank, a certain amount of voting
power. If the page in question links to five other pages, then each of the pages being linked to receive their
PageRank "award" of one fifth of the original page's voting power. It's also worth noting that the number of links
on a page includes a website's internal links.
Link Farms Don't Work
This makes it quite obvious that the so-called link farms, where each page of a website contains many hundreds of
links in an attempt to artificially boost so called "link popularity", are doomed to fail from the start. In addition
to this, Google has its own system for not only minimizing the effect that these sites have, but eliminating it
altogether. As the formula shows, PageRank works as a multiplier of a site's overall value, so Google has made sure
that link farms have their own value of zero - which means that a link from them counts for nothing, quite literally.
There is a scare story doing the rounds which claims that being listed on link popularity sites, or for that matter
any site with a large number of links, can get your site penalized or even banned from Google. This is simply not the
case. If it were, you'd effectively be able to wipe-out your competition's Google presence with one afternoon's work.
It doesn't work that way.
Having links to your web pages on sites with a low page rank and a large number of links means that the benefits are
quite effectively minimized to zero. But this will not detract from your current PageRank at all.
Obviously, what people really want to know is whether PageRank can be manipulated. In the past it was often
considered impossible to do so, but nowadays this is not always the case. There are two simple factors involved:
First: who links to you, and how they choose to do so. Secondly: your own website's navigation and
internal links.
Clearly, the sheer number of pages linking to you will not influence your PageRank. Of far greater importance is
the PageRank of each of these pages, and how many links appear on them. Common sense certainly needs to be applied
here. In theory, one simple way to improve your PageRank might be to have Microsoft link to you from the front page
of their website. In practice, this might be a little difficult to achieve.
It is already quite clear that linking out to another website, even if it opens in a new browser window, actually
involves potentially giving away a lot more than a little space on your website. My advice would be to look at your
link exchanges as you would your food. You always want to make sure you're not leaving yourself hungry, and if you
do choose to share, be selective. Exchanging a piece of your sirloin steak for a small piece of stale bread, shared
between hundreds of people, is far from an even trade. If you're doing so to help another site, as an act of charity,
then this is fine and well, as long as you know what you're giving away. Choose wisely.
Well-known Websites and Their PageRank
Now that we have a basic understanding of how PageRank works, let's take a look at some of the more well-known
websites on the web today, and see how their main pages perform.
Finding out a page's PageRank couldn't be simpler. Follow the link to Services and Tools from the Google home page,
and find the Google Toolbar. After installing the software, a bar appears at the top of the browser showing a value
for each page you're visiting. Hold the mouse over the bar, and you'll be told the page's PageRank - a score out of
ten. As already mentioned, this figure is little more than a representation of a page's actual PageRank.
Not surprisingly, very few pages score ten out of ten, and those that do include the likes of Microsoft, Yahoo,
Google itself, AltaVista, Adobe, AOL, Mozilla.org and others. In other words we're looking at the biggest of the
biggest websites - and not something that most of us could ever hope to achieve!
Of course, there is a simple reason that search engines and directories have such a high PageRank. Not only do they
link to a huge, ever-growing list of sites and pages, but more importantly, a truly staggering number of these sites
and pages link back to them. When you consider the importance of reciprocal linking, you start to understand why
they do so well. With Adobe, you only need to consider the sheer number of web pages out there that link to a PDF
file (with links to Adobe for their free reader software), and you will see why they have achieved such a high number.
A nine out of ten score still puts you within a very small minority of the web. Should you be able to achieve this
high a PageRank, you'll be rubbing shoulders with the likes of MSN, BBC News, Winzip and Internet.com. We're talking
about the web's upper classes here - not really attainable for the majority of normal website owners.
Eight out of ten starts bringing you to the "reachable" web. You'll find sites such as CNN, TuCows, Simtel, the
Association of Shareware Professionals, the Shareware Industry Conference site and Lockergnome.
A PageRank of seven is starting to appear reasonably attainable, as long as we're willing to work hard on the content
and reputation of your site. The sevens include companies such as D-Link, MSNBC, CNET's Download.com and our very own
SharewarePromotions.com.
Don't Lose Your Perspective!
At this point, a little perspective might be in order. A critical point to remember is that PageRank only plays a
part in performing well in Google. PageRank's primary aim involves ranking the results of a search - but in order
to show up in the search to start with, your site needs to be properly optimized and have good, solid content. So
contrary to popular belief, the era of Search Engine Optimization is far from over. It's only had a new, interesting
factor thrown into it.
Finally, a note of caution. This article has been an attempt to very briefly summarize an enormously complicated
subject. Aside from constraints of space, much of the workings of PageRank remain shrouded in mystery. The ideas
presented are based on available data, known facts, speculation and my own experience - but none of it should be
considered as insurmountable fact!
PageRank is undoubtedly an important factor in how much traffic you will receive from Google. It is, however, merely
one component in your arsenal of tools to win the battle for one particular search engine. Even with the constantly
evolving web, and the ever-tightening systems employed by the search engines to quantify the usefulness of a website,
content is still by far the most important factor, and will invariably form the base on which everything else is
built. Be seen, be sold.
About The Author
Dave Collins is the CEO of SharewarePromotions Ltd., a well established UK-based company working with software and
shareware marketing activities, utilising all aspects of the internet.
SharewarePromotions.com and
DaveTalks.com.
