What is PageRank in SEO: A-to-Z Guide for Beginners!

In today’s article, I am going to tell you about What is PageRank in SEO, so if you want to know about it, then keep reading this article. Because I am going to give you complete information about it, so let’s start.

As you all know, SEO is one of the most widely preferred strategies for ranking websites and one of the important aspects of Digital Marketing. It’s a bitter truth that knowing SEO fully is difficult as it gets updated with Google algorithm and changes can be seen simultaneously. However many individuals are too confident with SEO and tell with too much confidence, what it entails.

Firstly, my friend, SEO doesn’t only include one aspect; neither has a single method for proceeding — so you can’t be sure of the result. However, with time you can make the analysis better and have a firm hold on the same. Experts are implementing different methods to rank their pages – this includes content writing, backlink creation, and many others that help them to get ranked on SERP. 

But what about other individuals? Are they aware of each aspect? Do they have a clear understanding? 

No, many individuals get stuck at some or the other point and some do not have a clear understanding though. One such important term that they aren’t able to understand or often get confused about is Google’s main method of ranking web pages in SERP,i.e, “Page Rank In SEO”.

What is PageRank in SEO

Even I believe it’s a bit of a confusing process to understand completely. Then how to learn? Worry not and read below!

However, I’ll help you to grab what I have learned over the years of experience and learning. There is not much to worry about –  this article will definitely provide a clear view of   “Page Rank In SEO ”.

The article will give you a clear understanding of all the related terms, methods, and how Google ranks pages with the help of “Page Rank In SEO”.

What is PageRank in SEO:

PageRank is a Google algorithm. This method evaluates and weighs a website’s link structure. The core element is that a website’s PageRank increases inversely with the number of high-quality links pointing to it. And the more significant a website is, the higher its PageRank. The PageRank, however, says nothing about the strength of a website’s content.

Every page in the PageRank algorithm’s index is given a numerical value between 0 and 10, indicating how “important” it is to the algorithm. A web page’s backlinks are examined to determine PageRank, with each link contributing a portion of its own PR.

PageRank is one of the factors that decide a website’s position in Google’s search results, although it no longer has as much of an influence as it did a few years ago. There are now more than 200 aspects that have an impact on how a website is crawled, indexed, and ranked by Google Search Engine.

1. Understanding PageRank Algorithm

Since the release of its initial iteration, Google PageRank has developed into a complex algorithm. Even though search engine optimization doesn’t really care about most of the math underlying PageRank. However, the following points are significant:

  • A logarithmic scale is used to compute PageRank: As a result, PR5 and PR6 differ greatly from PR3 and PR4, which is a significantly smaller difference.
  • Only a portion of a webpage rank is considered: Previously, a page might transfer up to 85% to 90% of its own PageRank through an outward link, and less through internal links; however, this proportion is probably lower now.
  • Votes are not weighed equally: The quantity of links a page points to determines how much of its PageRank is passable. In comparison to connections from a PR6 site with 500 outbound links, a backlink from a PR4 site with only three external links would be more beneficial.
  • Constant Updation: Although PR is constantly updated, new PageRank numbers are only disclosed every few months, with changes displayed on Google’s Toolbar PageRank.
  • Page Rank is one of the aspects of ranking pages: PageRank is a simple statistic to track, but it doesn’t reveal much about a website’s authority and trust, which are more indicative of ranking potential.
  • You can check a website’s PageRank with a variety of SEO tools. For example, one such tool is the Website ranking checker by Sitechecker.

2. How Does PageRank Work?

The PageRank computation is summed up in the seminal paper of Google as follows:

Presumably, page A has pages T1 through Tn that point to it (i.e., are citations). The damping factor, or parameter d, has a range of 0 to 1. D is typically set to 0.85. The next section contains further information regarding d. Additionally, the number of links leaving page A is specified as C(A). The following is how page A’s PageRank is indicated:

PR(A) = (1‑d) + d (PR(T1)/C(T1) + … + PR(Tn)/C(Tn))

Because the PageRanks are distributed probabilistically among online sites, the total PageRank of all web pages will equal one.

A straightforward iterative approach may be used to construct PageRank, also known as PR(A), which is the primary eigenvector of the web’s normalized link matrix. Additionally, a medium-sized workstation can compute a PageRank for millions of web pages in a short period of time. Numerous further information exists, but they are beyond the scope of today’s syllabus.

By adding a percentage of the PageRank values of all the pages that link to a page, this formula determines the PageRank for that page. Backlinks from websites with higher PageRank are therefore more valuable. Furthermore, pages that have more outward connections only share a portion of their PageRank with each connected website.

Some factors affecting Page Ranks:

  • The number and caliber of external connecting pages
  • how many outbound connections there are on each linked page
  • The connecting pages’ PageRank

Together, these three elements make PageRank crucial and continue to be so.

3. Is PageRank Still Important? 

Simply said, absolutely. Even while PageRank scores are no longer visible, it doesn’t imply they aren’t significant.

Links were the foundation of PageRank, and inbound links continue to have the most impact on where you appear in the search results.

Even though Google has advanced much since PageRank was first published, the formula and connections taken together to continue to be the foundation of its algorithms. They are thus arguably just as important as ever for SEO and digital marketing in general.

4. Why Should You Still Care About PageRank?

Why should you still worry about PageRank even when it is hidden from your watchful eyes? Because Google has acknowledged continuing to use it while discontinuing all support for it and beginning to downplay its significance. Here are a few points supporting the same :

  • Gary Illyes tweets – “Do you know that after 18 years also I’m still using PageRank and with more than 100s of additional signals in ranking.
  • So there you have it: direct quotes from a high-ranking Google employee who makes it quite obvious that PageRank is still important to Google.
  • Gary brought up PageRank once more at a meeting in Singapore a year later.
  • Illyes explained to the audience that PageRank is still a component of the Google algorithm and that its Toolbar PageRank is the only component that has vanished.

In other words, PageRank remains at the core of the most effective SEO techniques used today.

5. What Is ‘Link Juice’? 

At the beginning of SEO, the term “link juice” was created. Today, it is more frequently referred to as link equity and is rarely discussed.

In order to explain how links carried value from one web page to another, the term “link juice” was coined. More link juice would be supplied depending on how good the website and web page were.

  • How Is Link Juice Determined?

Well, some of the FAQs need to be cleared before understanding the calculation of “Link Juice” or “Link Equity”.

  • Does the link make sense?

According to this theory, links on websites that are more closely related to your site in terms of topic matter are more significant than links on websites that are not related at all.

  • Is the link on an outstanding website?

Relevance is crucial, but a site’s authority also matters greatly. The more respect or authority a website has, the more value inbound links from that website are likely to pass.

  • Is the link visible to Google?

The value of a link is zero if Google cannot see it. Nada. Worthless. Therefore, ensure that it is on a crawlable website. Equity won’t be transferred if a site’s robots.txt file prevents Google from accessing it or if the page itself is set to Noindex.

  • Do-follow or No-follow apply to the link?

A followed link is still worth more than a No-follow link, despite the fact that Google has started to change how they use both types of links. Nofollow links don’t transfer any link equity at all, however, followed links might transfer link equity.

  • Where on the page is the link?

Again, the effect of this is debatable, although links towards the top of a page are typically seen to transmit more equity than ones at the bottom.

Going even further, it’s believed that links in blogrolls and footers now carry less weight than they once did. When we consider the misuse that existed (and, to some extent, still exists) surrounding purchased connections, this is very acceptable.

6. How to Maintain and Increase PageRank

The objective is not to increase PageRank through optimization. To make sure you aren’t squandering your current PageRank, that is what matters. Here’s how to remember it.

1. Internal Linking

Maintain key information near your homepage.

It’s time to determine (if you haven’t previously) which pages on your website are the most crucial. Once you’ve done that (again, if you haven’t previously), you may execute an internal linking strategy to make sure those crucial pages are located as close to the home page as feasible.

There are no proper guidelines for how near your vital pages should be to the main page, although it’s presumed that they are no more than four steps away. 

Why? From a UX standpoint, it helps your most essential pages keep as much link equity as possible. Users just want to find the information they need as quickly as possible. Therefore two points need to be understood :

  • Adjust orphan pages

A page on your website that lacks any internal connections is referred to as an orphaned page. If it isn’t linked internally, Google may find it via your XML sitemap but won’t give it any weight.

A site crawler like Sitebulb can help you find orphaned pages on your website. Once these pages have been located, you can link to the orphaned page from other pages. In addition to informing Google that you think certain pages are important, you are also giving those pages credit by linking to them from other pages on your website.

  • PageRank sculpting

There used to be a trick for keeping PageRank on the important pages of your website. PageRank sculpting was the term used. In order to keep PageRank in some parts of the domain, SEOs would No-follow connections from one page of their website to another.

2. Backlinks

You already know how essential links are to Google when it comes to how the search engine ranks pages and presents its results if you’ve made it this far through our little history lesson.

Your website has little to no chance of ranking highly, if at all, without a strong profile of relevant, high-quality backlinks. Even though Google claims that websites may rank without links, this assertion seems dubious.

You’re going to require links unless you’re in a really specialized niche.

So, how do you acquire links?

A few years ago, you could just spend money on an SEO company. They would create or purchase links, and you might in a sense take control of the internet. Google is a lot wiser now, thus that “tactic” is ineffective.

At present, the following are some of the most popular methods for obtaining backlinks:

Methods to acquire Backlinks

1. Make high-quality content to get backlinks

One of the most common methods for obtaining backlinks is this. Make content that others will like, link to, and share. This may be a great blog piece, an infographic, or some intriguing facts. It may be a component of your plan as long as what you do is original and worthwhile to share.

2. Work with a PR firm that is tech-savvy

Make sure any PR firm you work with recognizes the value of inbound connections and makes an intentional effort to find them.

3. Brand references without a link

This is where you search for unlinked web references of your brand and request links from them. Not all websites link out automatically, so scan the search results for brand references that aren’t connected, then get in touch with the webmasters to request a link.

4. Competitor analysis

This is a very important part – as it not only aware you of what your contender’s rank is on SERP but also you’ll be able to analyze well what all tactics and strategies he/she is using for getting backlinks or any other ranking components. This will help your website also to boost significantly.

5. Guest Blogging 

Link building through guest blogging may be quite effective. Additionally, it can support brand promotion and increase the caliber of site visitors. What you need is to analyze a website first fully – looking for aspects like Domain Authority and others and then wisely make a choice.

7. Importance of PageRank 

In order to provide the greatest, most relevant search results, a website’s PageRank will aid the search engine.

The PageRank of a website will assist in arranging the search results in accordance with the relevance of each result, and it also gives the center pages greater favor.

You may learn some fundamental presumptions about the ranking algorithm and the process of ranking a page by looking at how a website’s PageRank is calculated.

A website’s PageRank is crucial since it determines whether your site appears on the first page or the final page of a search engine when a user searches for terms related to your company or services.

Hope you have read about What is PageRank in SEO above. But now if you want to know about What is PageRank algorithm, then you can watch the video given above.

Conclusion:)

To conclude, I would state due to the advancement of Google’s ranking algorithms over time, many believe that PageRank is now essentially meaningless. Therefore, as an indication, PageRank can still be helpful for swiftly identifying areas of a website where link juice isn’t flowing as it should. So the article ends by providing you with related terms, calculations, importance, and a clear understanding of “PageRank in SEO”.

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Reda also:)

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