Page Rank (R) is the value Google assigns to a web site to indicate its “importance”.

This number can range from 0 - 10 (zero is bad, 10 is the best) and it’s good to know that even Google’s own home page only has a PR of 7!

While PR is not the ONLY factor used to determine a web page’s rank, it’s a very important one.

According to Web Workshop (opens in new window):

To calculate the PageRank for a page, all of its inbound links are taken into account. These are links from within the site and links from outside the site.

PR(A) = (1-d) + d(PR(t1)/C(t1) + … + PR(tn)/C(tn))

That’s the equation that calculates a page’s PageRank. It’s the original one that was published when PageRank was being developed, and it is probable that Google uses a variation of it but they aren’t telling us what it is. It doesn’t matter though, as this equation is good enough.

Now, it’s important to note that not ALL inbound links are counted by Google. An inbound link from a web site with a PR of zero usually isn’t included, nor are links from “link farms” and other “bad neighborhood” web sites.

The more inbound “links” your web site has, the more important Google thinks it is.   When those links come in from dot edu or high PR sites, then those raise your PR rank even more!

You can spend your life learning the intricacies of Page Rank… or you can simply keep in mind that the more inbound links you can solicit from other sites with a PR ranking to your site, the better your web site’s Page Rank will be.

Download and install the Google Toolbar for a quick and easy way to see any web site’s PR.

Filed under: Web Site Basics for Authors, Page Rank explained, search engine, search engine rankings, seo, web site basics, website marketing tools