How long have you implemented SEO? 1 year, few years or is it just beginning?
If it is long enough, you will surely know Page Rank – Google web page ranking toolbar.
PageRank displayed on the toolbar
This tool shows the PageRank index of every page you have visited on a logarithmic scale from 0 to 10.
But even before this PageRank toolbar was officially removed in 2016, Google stopped updating it for years. For this reason, some SEOs consider PageRank to be an outdated metric, not much of a value in SEO today.
However, you should note:
PageRank still plays an important role in Google’s ranking algorithm.
Why do I say that?
Google itself has confirmed it. This tweet was posted by Gary Illyes.
Gary confirmed after 18 years still using PageRank. Gary Illyes works for Google. According to Gary, Google still uses the PageRank algorithm (and more than 100 other factors) to evaluate a website’s ranking.
Accordingly, the Page Rank algorithm is still very important in Google’s ranking. However, the only difference is that the page rank toolbar no longer exists!
In this article, I will share with you three main ideas:
- The importance and necessity of PageRank
- PageRank index calculation
- How Google PageRank works
Get started now!
What is PageRank?
PageRank (PR) is a mathematical formula that evaluates the value of a page by considering the quantity and quality of pages that link to it. The purpose of PageRank is to assess the relative importance of the website throughout the world wide web system.
Google co-founders, Serge Brin and Larry Page invented PageRank in 1997 as part of a research project at Stanford University with the desire to improve the quality of search engine performance.
Because at that time, search engines (such as Yahoo, Altavista) had problems:
- Inefficient operation, often offering unrelated websites
- Return search results that do not match user expectations
And PageRank was created to solve these two problems.
How does Google PageRank algorithm work?
Suppose site A gets pages T1 … Tn points to, we have the formula to calculate the Page Rank index of page A as follows:
PageRank calculation formula
Includes:
- T: Number and quality of internal links on pages
- C: The number of outlinks per page
- PR: PageRank index on each page
Parameters d (d: damping factor): The correction factor (*) can be set between 0 and 1, most often take d as 0.85.
I will explain d in more detail in the next section.
Note: PageRanks creates a percentage distribution of scores across sites, so the PageRank of all sites will be one.
Are you confused? I will explain in a simpler way.
Google defines 3 factors while analyzing a website’s path, namely:
- The quantity and quality of Internal links that point to the page;
- The number of outlinks per page;
- PageRank index of each linked page.
Suppose page C has 2 links: 1 from page A and 1 from page B. Page A is stronger than page B and also has fewer outbound links.
Put this information in PageRank algorithm and you will get PageRank of page C.
How Google PageRank works
PageRank formula has 1 factor called the adjustment factor – The parameter d (damping factor – literally means the damping coefficient).
- The parameter d simulates the probability of a random user repeatedly clicking a link on a page when they visit a website.
In fact, the number of clicks on the link will decrease during the time users walk on your website.
Think like this:
- The probability of you clicking on the link on the first page you visit is quite high. But your ability to click on the link on the next page will decrease slightly. And so on and so forth, until you exit the web.
Accordingly, the total score for a site will be multiplied by Google’s adjustment factor d (usually taken by 0.85) for each iteration of the PageRank algorithm.
For example, gtvseo.com links to a page via 4 link hops. Then the value of that link will be reduced, so on to the final site will be of no value.
But if a user links to the same page in just two steps, the link will have a strong influence on the page
PageRank’s algorithm
Why did Google publicly remove PageRank?
Here is what a Google spokesperson had in 2016:
- As the Internet grew and people became more aware of the Internet, the PageRank Toolbar score – a single indicator that gradually became less useful to users.
- Therefore, removing the PageRank toolbar helps avoid confusing users and webmasters about the importance of this indicator.
But that is not the only reason Google publicly rejected PageRank. Another factor that contributes to this decision is: spam links.
Honestly, SEOs have been obsessed for a long time with the PageRank index and see it as a factor that helps Google rank websites. And the reason is simply because of the name “PageRank” (page rank) of it.
As a result, people soon started buying and selling links with “high PageRank”. And it opened up a huge market, and still exists
Market PageRank sale
If you are wondering how sellers can buy high PageRank links, there are actually many ways.
In the mid-2000s, one of the tactics of acquiring PageRank was to leave comments on blogs.
For Google, this is a big deal. Basically, links are judged to be of good quality because they are linked to really quality pages.
Unnatural links make Google’s algorithm less efficient at sorting and arranging high quality pages compared to low quality pages.
In addition to PageRank, Google has four other important algorithms that will affect website rankings. Please refer to the following articles:
- Google Medic: What is Google Medic? 8 Steps to restore the website after Update 1/8
- Google Panda: What is Google Panda? 9 reasons why the website was fined Panda 2019
- Google Sandbox: The truth of why your website is constrained and how to neutralize it
- Google Hummingbird: What is the Hummingbird algorithm? Some basic things to keep in mind
Introducing “nofollow”
The advent of Page Rank also causes a problem:
A lot of SEOer spam comments and links on high page rank blogs to increase your website’s rankings. These comments often take the form “Access abc.com to get promotion codes” for example.
In 2005, Google partnered with other major search engines to introduce the nofollow attribute.
By using the nofollow attribute, webmasters can prevent the loss of their web PageRank to other specific links.
When Google sees the attribute (rel = “nofollow”) on hyperlinks. That means those links will not be crawled by Google bot. And that link will not get any value from your website.
Today, almost all CMS commenting “nofollow” blog systems are linked in this default mode.
But when Google solves one problem, another worse problem comes up:
PageRank Sculpting
The original PageRank formula indicated that:
PageRank is evenly divided among our links on a website.
So, if the PageRank of a page is Y and the page has 10 outlinks, the number of PageRank that goes through each link is Y / 10.
But what if you added the nofollow attribute to 9 of those 10 links?
It will certainly prevent PageRank from losing these nine links. From there, the entire PageRank will be redirected to only 1 link on the page.
Is this true?
Use nofollow tags to control PageRank
Originally, the above was true. This is the case when webmasters have started adding nofollow attributes to pages they consider to be less important (for example, outbound links, etc.).
This allows them to “sculpting” – manipulate PageRank on their site. Basically, you are in charge of navigating the power of Page Rank on your website.
For example:
If they have a page with a PageRank score of 7.
To enhance the “power” of a particular page, they will only link to pages with high PageRank and “nofollow” all the other links on the page. By that way, most of the PageRank will be sent to the page they choose.
Example: Your Page A has 10 PageRank points and links to 10 other pages, including 5 pages to “nofollow” => 5 pages without nofollow will get each page 10/5 = 2 page rank points.
However, later, even if you leave the “nofollow” attribute, the PageRank score will not be transferred to the remaining pages.
Here is an illustration of the difference:
Flow when using nofollow to control PageRank
I do not know if this “nofollow” formula still works. Google changed 9 years ago. Everything could have been different.
Many other factors (for example, the position of links on the page) can also affect the conversion value of links.
But what I know for sure is …
Adding nofollow tags to some links will not add the “link juice” flow to the rest of the links on the page.
Why did Google publicly remove PageRank?
Immediately after introducing “dofollow” and “nofollow”, Google deleted PageRank data from Webmaster Tools.
Then in 2014, John Mueller of Google advised people to stop paying attention and use PageRank because it will no longer be updated!
I will not use PageRank or link as a measurement anymore. The last time PageRank was updated was 1 year ago and Google has no plans to make further updates.
In 2016, the PageRank Toolbar was officially removed.
This makes buying and selling high PageRank links more difficult. Because there is no way to find the “real” PageRank of a website.
Are there any indicators to replace PageRank?
Actually, there does not exist an index that is completely like PageRank.
But there are a few indicators that are similar to the PageRank – for example, the URL (URL Rating) of Ahrefs.
UR – What is URL Rating?
Ahrefs URL Rating (UR) is an indicator of the strength and reputation of a specific URL on a website.
UR is calculated on a scale of 1 – 100. The higher the score, the stronger the URL is
For example, you can see the UR of gtvseo.com/seo-la-gi/ is 25.
PageRank an article of GTV SEO
So how to check the UR of the website? You simply need:
Go to Site Explorer> Enter the URL you want to check> Enter
Or use the Ahrefs SEO toolbar.
Use the Ahrefs SEO toolbar
Compare URL rating (UR) and PageRank
Are the results of these 2 indices really the same?
With the same page, when calculating UR and PageRank, the results are not the same. And only Google knows exactly how PageRank is calculated.
But I know that UR index can compare with original Google PageRank formula in the following 4 ways:
- Count the number of links between pages
- nofollow attribute
- Parameter d
- Data collection of web
Remember: This is how URL Rating (UR) compares to the original PageRank formula. Google has almost certainly iterated and improved upon their formula in the 21 years since its inception.
Note: This is how UR is compared to the old PageRank formula.
Certainly, this giant has improved and upgraded this formula 21 years from the time Google was founded.
Basically, Google constantly upgrade its website evaluation criteria. And so far, Google search results are still the best compared to any other search engine.
How is URL Rating different from PageRank?
To be honest, no one knows what factors directly determine Google’s website rating, as well as the importance (ratio) among the factors.
This fact makes it difficult to know how UR is different from PageRank, because I do not fully understand how Google values the value of a link in 2018.
Even when it comes to seemingly basic things, like how links are calculated by PageRank, things will not be as simple as you think.
Because there are many factors that affect the website, as shown below:
Diagram of link links
This is a great test when interviewing SEOs.
The Ahrefs crawler (Ahrefs’ crawler) counts 8 links to page B, but not all crawlers work this way.
I do not know how Google counts these links.
Moreover, the actual link count is only a small part. As you begin to calculate the value of each link, the complexity will reach a whole new level.
Here are some other questions I am not sure about the answer to:
- Does PageRank conversion depend on the position of the link on the page?
Google has shown that: PageRank may depend on the position of the link on the page.
Example: Links at the top of the page or higher positions will receive more PageRank than the links at the bottom of the page.
Similar to the links in the sidebar compared to the links in the main content.
Linking links to increase PageRank
Should you use UR instead of PageRank?
The URL Rating is an appropriate indicator to replace PageRank because it has a lot in common with the original PageRank formula.
However, it is not a substitute for other indicators. In fact, UR does not take into account many other factors like Google PageRank.
So, my advice is to use it, but not to rely solely on it to evaluate the website.
How to enhance your PageRank
Before I start with this section, I want to emphasize an important point:
- This is not about how to optimize PageRank or UR.
The real task is to ensure that you do not lose or lose PageRank on your site.
So, there are 3 parts you need to focus on:
- Internal linkage:
How you link pages together on your site affects the flow of “authority” and “link juice” on your web.
- External links:
Both UR and PageRank effectively share authority among all outlinks on a page.
But this does not mean that you should delete or delete external links. (Keep reading, I will explain in more detail)
- Backlinks:
Backlinks bring the flow of “link juice” to your site, which you should take care of.
Now let’s look at each element in more detail!
Internal linking
Backlinks are not always in your control.
People can link to any page on the site of their choice and they can use any text they like.
But internal linking is different!
You have total control over them.
But here are a few ways you can improve PageRank with your internal links.
- Keep important content as close to your homepage as possible
Your homepage is almost certainly the strongest page on your site.
- Most backlinks will point to your homepage:
You can see that the number of links to your homepage is the highest among the pages on your site.
- Most URLs in the web link to the home page via the home button
So, the closer a page is to your homepage (in terms of internal topology), the more authority it gets.
That is why you should put important content as close to the homepage as possible.
But you cannot link the homepage to all your pages!
The good news is that your home page is not the only high-value page on one site that converts permissions to other sites.
If you really want to send more “link juice” to a specific page, do this:
- Use the “Best by Links” report to find the most authoritative pages on your site
- Link this page to the page you are trying to increase the UR for it
- Edit unique websites
PageRank spreads throughout a web page through internal links and external links.
That means that “link juice” can only flow to one page if it actually links from one or more pages on the web.
If a page does not have any links, it is called an orphan page.
To find such sites, you first need a list of all the sites on your web.
Once you have this list, crawl your site in Ahrefs Website Testing tool, then use Internal links to them.
External links
Many people feel that linking to other websites will curb their website rankings.
That is not right!
External links will not hurt you, so you should not worry about linking to other websites.
It is true that the more links you have on a page, the less value each link will deliver.
But I am pretty sure that in 2018, calculating the value of each link on a page was not as simple as in mid-1990 when Google filed the original PageRank patent.
So, while you can hoard links and not link with anyone, that does not mean Google will reward you for doing so.
Not linking to any other website is like you are manipulating links, trying to navigate PageRank on your website. This is not natural at all! And believe me, Google does not like this way either!
External links exist because they serve a purpose; it directs readers to extended sources of knowledge if they need to learn more!
Therefore, you should link out whenever you find it useful for users!
Here are a few outlink ways you can follow:
- Do not “nofollow” external links unless it is absolutely necessary
This is what Google says about nofollow links:
In general, we do not track it. This means that Google does not pass PageRank or the text on these links.
Some websites (Forbes, HuffPo, etc.) now “nofollow” all their external links by default.
Is this a good way? Not really.
Most of these sites have chosen to do so because some of their copywriters are secretly selling links from their posts.
And so, a ban on “dofollow” external links was created.
But most likely you do not have this problem.
In that case, you do not need to nofollow all your external links. Which should only “nofollow” the external link:
- Links to questionable pages: In this case, you may want to ask if you should link to the page;
- Links from paid posts: The “sponsor post” means that any link in the post will be an extremely effective link. This is exactly what nofollow is for.
- Fix broken external links
Broken external links contribute to a bad user experience. These links also lose PageRank.
How do you fix them?
First you need to find pages 404. And then redirect 301 Redirect them to the pages of the relevant website.
Backlinks
Backlinks increase the PageRank of the link to the page. However, not all backlinks produce the same value.
Google looks at hundreds of factors to determine the true value of a backlink.
Here are a few helpful techniques to get the most out of your backlinks:
- Focus on building links from high UR pages
PageRank is passed between pages, not the domain.
A link from a high authority page to a low authority page will be more valuable than a link from a low authority page to a high authority page.
- Fix broken pages wasting “link juice”.
Backlinks not only promote the authority of the sites it points to, but also for every page that is internally linked on the site.
The reason is, PageRank runs from page to page through internal links.
But if you have backlinks pointing to a broken page, any “link juice” is wasted because it has nowhere to flow.
Therefore, you should fix any broken pages that have backlinks pointing to them.
You can find such sites by adding the “404 not found” filter to the Best by links report.
Site Explorer> enter your domain name> Best by links> add a 404 filter
(Picture)
Search for a broken page
This shows you all the broken pages on your site, plus the number of links it ever had.
- Do not be blinded by “authority”; the context is also important
PageRank is very important, so is context.
What do I mean?
Imagine that you have a cat blog and you write a blog post about the cat scratching the back of your BMW car.
In the post, you link to a related product page on the official BMW website.
Is this link irrelevant because it came from a cat blog?
It is not. It is still completely legal and relevant.
However, it may be less valuable to Google than a link from another famous blogger who wrote the entire BMW article specifically.
Conclusion
Most SEOers never think of Google PageRank for obvious reasons: it is outdated and there is no way to see the PageRank index for a page anymore.
But it is important to remember that the PageRank formula is the core content for many current SEO techniques.
This is why backlinks are still important and also explain why SEO professionals still pay much attention to internal links today.
That does not mean you should be too blind to try to optimize PageRank.
You should not.
But please understand that whenever you build links, pay attention to your internal link structure or check out your external links.
What you are really doing has indirectly optimized for PageRank!