Google PageRank is a fundamental algorithm that plays a key role in determining the relevance and authority of websites. It was developed at the end of the 1990s by Larry Page and Sergey Brin during their research work at Stanford University. It formed the technical basis for the functioning of the early Google search engine. The core principle of PageRank is to determine the number and quality of Backlinks of a website as an indicator of its importance. A link from another website was seen as a kind of „vote“ or recommendation.
Originally, PageRank assigned a value between 0 and 10 to each website, which was publicly visible via the Google Toolbar. This value reflected the Link popularity and authority. A higher PageRank value signaled greater relevance in the Google index. It is important to note that this public display of PageRank was finally discontinued in 2016. Since then, Google no longer publishes specific PageRank values for individual websites.
The historical significance of the PageRank algorithm
In its early years, PageRank revolutionized the search engine landscape by providing an objective metric for the importance of web pages that went beyond mere Keyword density went beyond that. The algorithm was based on the assumption that the more high-quality websites link to a website, the more important it is. Not only the quantity but also the quality of the incoming links was taken into account. A link from a thematically relevant and authoritative website had a higher weight than a link from an inferior source.
A key feature of the PageRank algorithm is its iterative calculation. The PageRank of a page distributes part of its own „link power“ to the pages to which it links. This concept of „link equity“ or „link juice“ is still a central pillar of the Linkbuildings in the modern SEO.
PageRank in modern SEO: evolution and principles
Although the public PageRank no longer exists, the basic principles that Larry Page and Sergey Brin developed over two decades ago are still an integral part of Google's ranking algorithms. Google continues to use sophisticated versions of this algorithm internally to analyze the link structure of the web and evaluate the authority of websites. However, the modern algorithm is much more complex and takes hundreds of other factors into account. Ranking factors.
In today's Search engine marketing is no longer about a single PageRank score, but about a comprehensive understanding of link signals. This includes aspects such as the thematic relevance of the linking pages, trustworthiness (TrustRank), anchor text distribution, the naturalness of the link profile and the topicality of the linked content. The focus is on quality rather than quantity in order to sustainably strengthen the authority and relevance of a website and compete for top rankings.
