IMAG Studios Search Engine Optimization > SEO Page Rank PR


Page Rank Explained

Page Rank or "PR" is an algorithim developed by Google for which assigns a specific weight of authority to a given website. Google describes Page Rank aa
being a reflection on the specific importance and authority of a web page.

Google states that their method considers over 500 million possible variations and billions of various terms. Each page that is found to be important is given a Page Rank (PR) with a higher value. Typically websites with the highest page ranks will receive higher search rank in the query results.

The Google Page Rank system views each link as a vote of confidence to the target page. Keeping this in mind, a hyperlink from a website with greater authority or Page Rank is weighed heavier then one with little page rank.

Google's Page Rank PR system also conducts an analysis of both websites involved in the link. (The website with the outbound link, and the website with the backlink in.) Google has long since learned to look beyond Meta Tags and data, and instead weighs the actual content on the webpages. Google will analyze the text on the page, the location of such text, the relation of that content compared to the rest of the website and the website linking to it.

For more on Google Page Rank check out Google's Page Rank explanation. While brief it can provide you with facts backing up what is stated here. You can also learn more about Page Rank and Google Search Engine Optimization on our website.

Interesting Google Page Rank Facts

Google does not actually hold the patent on the Page Rank algorithim and technology. Infact Stanford University holds this right. However Google.com is currently the only company with permissions to use the Page Rank PR technology. Google obtained these rights by giving Stanford University nearly 1.8 million shares of Google stock.

There was a time period of several years when Google Page rank was seen as a determining factor in search engine optimization. Many SEO Search Engine Optimization Firms and webmasters would go out of their way simply to find links from high page rank websites. Often these were paid links, and while they provided great benefit Google has initiated a policy of stamping out the use of paid links, and has not updated its public page rank ratings as frequently in the last years in order to lessen the importance.