Pagerank is one of the metrics for defining a website’s ranking on Google. In the past it was certainly one of the most widely used metrics to determine the value of the website and the outbound links from that domain. And those who still have some old memory surely remember the green bar in the browser that measured it on a scale of 0 to 10. Updates used to occur every 3 months.
Clearly, a newly published website has as its value the absolute minimum while Google itself was (perhaps) the only portal that could sport the fateful Pagerank 10.
But is all this useful today? Can we include Pagerank still among the useful SEO metrics for evaluating how good a website is? Here’s what you need to know to best address this issue.
What is Pagerank, a definition
Pagerank – a word composed of Page and rank or classification – is a mathematical algorithm devised by Google’s founders to sort websites entered in the search engine. Larry Page (yes, that’s where the name Pagerank comes from) and Sergey Brin developed it at Stanford University.
They did this using hyperlinks. How does this structure work? Let’s start by pointing out that, in the official presentation document, Pagerank is defined as.
“An objective measure of its citation importance that corresponds well with people’s subjective idea of importance. Because of this correspondence, PageRank is an excellent way to prioritize the results of web searches.”
INFOLAB.STANFORD.EDU
To summarize, Pagerank measures the value of a web page based on quantity and quality of links. The higher the PR of a publication, the greater the benefit a domain will receive when it gets a backlink. It is not hard to imagine that in the past, SEOs were very attached to this metric–based on an algorithmic scale–which could also be used as a buying and selling of inbound links.
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How Pagerank works and is calculated
In the past, there was only the green bar in the Google Toolbar that gave indications with respect to the presence of a value ranging from 0 to 10. Behind this indication, however, lies a refined calculation.
How does Google work in this case? It goes from considering the simple number of links received to the value that the individual link has, so as not to flatten all backlinks on the same plane. The calculation of Pagerank is expressed by a formula published in the already linked official document.
PR(A) = (1-d) + d (PR(T1)/C(T1) + … + PR(Tn)/C(Tn))
The PR of page A is given by the value of all pages from T1 to Tn in relation to the parameter d. That is, it is a damping factor set at 0.85. In good summary, without going into too much detail about the algorithmic formula of Pagerank, we can say that this metric does not simply evaluate the quantity of links by normalizing the number of links on a page.
Rather, it gives value to web pages by evaluating the above dampening. That is, Pagerank is only partially transmitted from page A to all those receiving links. This process of link juice-the flow of Pagerank through websites-is described by the polemicdigital.com image.
How can I find out the Pagerank of the site?
Pagerank Checkers still exist, but December 6, 2013 was the last time an update was recorded within Google Toolbar. In summary, the need to carry on the work of understanding and analyzing the logic of Pagerank without fossilizing on the sheer number still applies.
Does this still apply to SEO?
Many SEOs have abandoned interest in this value since, in 2016, Google announced that it was no longer updating the green bar in the browser with the relevant value from 0 to 10. This is because there has been a morbid focus by SEO experts on the value in the narrow sense.
PR was used to create a marketplace of links to be sold and traded, ranking websites and pointing toward goals that were increasingly distant from what Google sought to promote. That is, the creation of quality content. But why continue to worry about this element?
It is not dead: Google no longer flaunts its value to the four winds-and several Tools such as SeoZoom and SEMrush have tried to create alternative metrics-but it remains a decisive element of SEO ranking. To understand its value, however, we need to understand what determines Pagerank.
4 elements that influence this value
We said that to have a high Pagerank you need to get lots of quality links. But is that all it is about? Do you have to work with link building? This is one of the aspects, let’s see how we can optimize our relationship with Pagerank today. Precisely because it is not a disappearing metric but still one of the SEO ranking factors to be evaluated in a good audit work.
Page links
Certainly the balance of links coming in and out of a web page help determine Pagerank value. We have already considered the importance of links pointing to the domain but another factor must be evaluated: within a web page, links have different value.
This occurs according to location, if they are in secondary and less clicked areas these mentions have a lower value. Of course, another substantial feature of this balance is the presence of nofollow tags, which neutralizes any SEO influence.
Domain history
A website with a 10-year history has more opportunities to mature a good link profile. And thus increase Pagerank. In these cases, it is important to have varied mentions, with anchor text that can appear as the result of natural work. Always having links from the same portals is not a good way to work, and domains with a long history manage to meet the needs of this point.
Quality of content
The factors that determine Google’s PageRank are evolving. The number and quality of inbound links are factors directly related to a high value but you can do other things to influence this parameter as well. Content quality is definitely one of the points to consider.
If only because this way you can increase the chances of getting natural inbound links. Which then, in the end, is the only way allowed by Google to avoid risking penalties. The quality of the content can also be related to the work done in terms of internal links. In fact, these links allow Pagerank juice to reach every web page and distribute evenly.
Relevance of the industry
It is not enough to be a website owner with good intentions. You must also become an institution in your target industry. Better yet, you can confirm that your content is also relevant with respect to that perspective known as semantic SEO in which Google can find relevant pages.
Even if they don’t include the query’s search terms, penalizing duplicate content-perhaps with constant keyword repetition-and valuing well-written content. All of this can become valuable.
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