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Back to SEO basics: What is PageRank and why do SEOs talk about it?

The PageRank system was developed by Google’s founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to help determine a page’s relevance or importance. This method of counting links to a page as votes of popularity set the Google search engine (then called “BackRub”) apart from the previous generation of search engines.

Naturally people tried to take advantage of this by artificially inflating the number of inbound links (IBLs), so Google explains that its PR algorithm “looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves ‘important’ weigh more heavily and help to make other pages ‘important.’”

But still, people try to make up in quantity what they lack in quality by engaging in artificial linkbuilding schemes (the linkbuilding is artificial, the schemes are real). And with each successive algorithm update Google seems to be discounting volume more and more. The latest Jagger update, word has it, really went back to focusing on votes from “important” pages and discounting votes from pages that themselves don’t have many IBLs, as well as votes from pages that are not related to the topic of the page.

Contrary to popular belief, and despite how logical it seems, PageRank is not named thus because it ranks pages. PageRank is a value that’s part of a much larger equation that’s calculated whenever someone does a search on Google. PageRank is named after Larry Page.

Read more about PageRank and methods used to exploit it for higher rankings.