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PageRank - How is it calculated? | | | PageRank is a number that Google uses to demonstrate the value and the quality of web pages. PageRank is just one of all the decisive factors such as keywords, density and others that determine Search Engine Results Page (SERP). Web pages that have managed to obtain more inbound links or one-way links enjoy a much higher page rank (PR stands for PageRank in this article).
Knowing the essence of PR you are wondering how the pagerank is calculated in fact. Below I will try to make clear the mathematical concept of PageRank.
Google uses an equation to calculate PR which is:
PR(A)=(1-d) + d[PR(t1)/C(t1) +...+ PR(tn)/C(tn)]
In this equation 't1...tn' stands for pages linking to Page A; 'C' stands for the number of outbound links of the linking page and 'd' is the constant number 0.85 which is a damping factor.
However, this equation is what Google claimed to use when calculating PageRank but we cannot be sure whether Google still uses this equation or a variation of it. Anyway, whether Google still uses this equation is not what concerns us now. This equation, though, will help us understand PR.
For people who avoid mathematics probably the above equation is a bit scary. In fact, the equation is not so complicated. If you are interested in it, you can find detailed information including a full explanation of this equation with working examples read The Google Page Rank Algorithm and How it Works by Ian Rogers.
In this article we are going to give you some useful information about how to imply the method that Google uses to calculate PR into your web page ranking strategy. I guess you will be surprised to know this but you can develop your own strategy to achieve high PR.
Inbound Linking Strategy
Most people believe that Google uses a scale from PR1 to PR10 to show PageRank. Nobody knows whether they are right but we prefer to assume that this scale exists. However, improving the PageRank from a lower page rank to the next higher has proven to be very difficult. To make it simpler I'll say that moving from PR3 to PR4 is more difficult compared to moving from PR1 to PR2. Below you will find an example, which will help you to understand this.
Toolbar PageRank
0...................................0 - 10
1...................................100 - 1,000
2...................................1,000 - 10,000
3...................................10,000 - 100,000
4...................................and so on...
*This illustration assumes a log base of 10.
| | | The goal of this example is to illustrate that an inbound page link with a PR8 is more valuable than one with PR4. In addition, the number of outbound links of the incoming page link appears to have no importance because inbound links with high pagerank will increase your web page ranking significantly.
That is why in the past many webmasters used to buy many inbound links with high PR to improve your web page PR. Today, Google has brought down this practice and now a new web page with too many high PR inbound links is being mistrusted. Nowadays, webmasters have given up the practice of buying inbound links because there are more appropriate ways to obtain inbound links:
- Directories: Your website being listed in quality directories like Yahoo will improve your PageRank for sure.
- Provide your site with content of good quality because others will be willing to link with it.
Internal Linking Strategy
Having in mind the equation that Google has developed to calculate pagerank we notice that adding new pages improves the PageRank as well. An easy way to improve the pagerank of your new pages is to organize your internal links so that the new pages are linked to your important pages.
This is the way the internal linking strategy works - you link your new pages to your important pages. Do not link pages that are identical because Google will assume them as spam. Your pages or your website could be banned. Do not forget that content is the most important factor that determine PageRank. Add new pages with rich content of good quality.
Be very careful while organizing internal linking because Google indexes pages that have one or more pages on the web linked to them but at the same time in order to channel the PR of the new pages to other pages you need to have them indexed by Google.
Outbound Linking Strategy
When obtaining outbound links you'd better ask for reciprocal links because outbound links will decrease your pagerank. Make sure that the anchor text of the incoming links is focused on your keywords.
Be very careful when choosing link exchange partners and do not rely on link farms and banned sites.
Google is still the undisputed king of traffic on the World Wide Web having 36 percent of the overall web traffic. I mean that the Google PageRank is still one of the most decisive factors that determine Search Engine Result Pages. That is why each website owner has to be familiar with the way PR works when building linking strategy. You need to know that while building your linking strategy you always have to keep in mind the practical concepts presented in this article.
You will find that it is not too hard to outsmart Google. Carefully build your link structure and Google won't surprise you with unsatisfactory results.
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