Page Rank is a proprietary algorithm used by Google to rank web pages in its search engine results, based on the quality and quantity of links to a page.
What is page rank?
It’s an algorithm used by Google to determine the importance of a website. Page rank can be used to compare the relative importance of two websites. But outside of Google, that’s no longer possible — the search engine stopped publicly displaying Page Rank years ago. Google updates its page rank algorithm periodically, which can affect the rankings of sites. Page Rank is a term for which Google has the copyright. Standford University owns the patent itself and has assigned it to Google. But all patents related to Page Rank expired in 2019.
Why is page rank important?
What was once the core of Google search has diminished in importance. However, it’s still a factor in determining rank and so it’s important to understand the concept.
Why does a content strategist need to know about page rank?
Page rank is a function of link quality and quantity, in that order. It’s important for content strategists to realize the outsized significance that the quality of links plays, not only in Page Rank calculation, but in ranking in general. The quantity of backlinks to a page can never make up for a lack of quality. In fact, it may have the opposite affect has Google may flag these as spam links — created unnaturally in an attempt to boost rankings.