What is Google Page Rank

Google Page Rank refers to the link analysis algorithm that is used by the Google search engine to weigh elements of the World Wide Web or those of any set of hyperlinked documents. Page rank (PR) refers to the measurement of the importance of every web element.

A link from a web page P1 to a page P2 is interpreted as a vote from page 1 to page 2. The weight assigned to a page depends on the number of votes it obtains from other pages on the web. The number of pages casting votes to a particular page is not the only criterion that determines page rank.

The weight assigned to a web element also depends on which web pages have links to it. The votes cast by web pages with a high PR are given greater weight than those cast by pages with relatively lower page ranks.

Thus, a web page that receives links from many web pages with a high page rank is bound to rank higher in search engines too. This also means that a web page, which is not linked to by many pages, lacks support and hence receives a lower rank.

Relevance of web page content plays a vital role in helping the Google search engine in determining its PR. How does a search engine work? When an Internet user queries a search engine with search words and phrases, it displays a list of search results.

The most relevant results are ranked higher than the less relevant ones. The ranking of web pages depends on the degree to which their content is relevant to the search query keyed in by a user.

Another important factor determining page rank is the number of visits a web page receives. Web pages, which receive more number of hits are considered popular and hence given higher weight by Google.

If a web page fetches many users, it is obvious that the page is popular among web users. It also implies that the web page contains information that is most sought-after and is hence ranked higher than other web pages carrying similar content.

The period for which the website domain has been registered, affects its rank. During the initial days after domain registration, the website may be suspected as spam and hence ranked lower.

Search engine crawlers are programmed to determine the authenticity of registered domains, whereby they can differentiate between authentic content and spam. The longer you are on the web, the higher are the chances of obtaining a higher page rank although,it too depends on a number o0f other factors.

In order to improve your page rank, it is important to check if your website is present is the Google database (i.e whether it is indexed or not). As soon as the site is launched, it should be added to the Google database since it is necessary for Google to notice your web content and crawl it.

It is important that your web pages are crawled by Googlebot, the search bots used by Google to collect web documents and build a searchable index for the search engine.

The application of search engine optimization techniques is of great help in improving your page rank. Firstly, you need to ensure that the page title contains the most important keywords. Adding meta titles is also helpful. Secondly, it is necessary to include important keywords in the description and as the introductory paragraphs of your web page content.

Make sure that the page content is based on the main key phrases. Obtaining backlinks to your web site is of great help in improving page rank. Links from popular websites have a greater effect. Links play a major role in the determination of a page rank and this makes it extremely important for you obtain links of high-ranking websites for your web page.

Use of illegal practices to manipulate content relevancy can hamper page rank. Excessive stuffing of keywords and search engine spamming that are intended to increase web traffic, can in fact prove detrimental to ranking.

True, SEO techniques are beneficial in improving your page rank. But what matters most is the web page content. If the content is relevant to its central idea and presented with an intent to help the readers, it is sure to rank. Content is the king!