I wasn’t familiar with SEO when the PageRank Algorithm was first introduced, and I didn’t experience the days when it was open to users. However, the people who taught me everything I know did live through those times when SEO was all about “whoever had the most links with the highest PageRank wins.” That’s exactly why PageRank is no longer accessible to users—because all SEO specialists were focused on getting more links with the highest PageRank instead of focusing on creating valuable content. Content that high-PageRank websites would naturally link to—or at the very least, content worthy of such links.
In this article, I don’t want to dive into the history of the algorithm, how it works, how it evolved, and so on. There are plenty of articles on the internet that cover that. Instead, I want to highlight some key aspects of PageRank that I often get asked about by my clients or where I frequently see structural errors on websites. These mistakes often arise from a misunderstanding of how this algorithm works and, more importantly, from a lack of awareness that this algorithm still exists and is still used by Google to determine the best web pages that answer a user’s query.
Note: Besides Google, similar algorithms are also used by other search engines like Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo.
What PageRank Algorithm Is and Why You Should Care
The PageRank Algorithm calculates how links impact a website’s authority, contributing to its placement in the search engine results page (SERP). These can be both external and internal links, and what’s important is that this algorithm is not just about the links themselves but also about where the link is located, the text around the link, and how many links there are.
SEO specialists also frequently use the term “PageRank” when they refer to a certain measure of “authority” that a link transfers if it’s dofollow or doesn’t transfer if the link is nofollow.
In essence, PageRank is a score (which used to be from 1 to 10) that is mathematically calculated based on the current algorithm formula. When you build links, you pass some of your site’s PageRank to the site you link to. SEO specialists often say that you are “passing” this PageRank when you create links. It’s worth noting, however, that when you build links, you’re not “giving away” your authority, but rather, by having some authority, you help increase the authority of the site you’re linking to.
You can see something similar to PageRank in popular SEO tools. For example, in Ahrefs, the equivalents of PageRank are the metrics Domain Rating and URL Rating. Similar metrics exist in tools like Semrush, Moz, and Majestic.
How PageRank Is Passed
The most important part of this article is the “mechanics” of how PageRank is passed from a donor (the one linking out) to an acceptor (the one being linked to). There’s a great analogy involving buckets and water that illustrates this concept—an analogy that wasn’t invented by me, but it’s the example used when PageRank was explained to me.
Imagine you have a bucket of water, where the bucket represents a page, and the amount of water is its PageRank. You punch five holes in the bucket, and in this example, the holes represent the links, causing water to flow out equally through all five holes. From two of the holes, the water flows into two other buckets, while from the other three, the water spills onto the floor, not filling any other container. This analogy perfectly illustrates the difference between dofollow and nofollow links. PageRank is divided equally among all holes, whether they are dofollow or nofollow, and whether they lead to internal or external pages. However, if a link is dofollow, the donor page passes its weight to the acceptor page, while if it’s nofollow, the authority is not passed. So, the amount of PageRank that gets passed through a link depends on how many links are present on the page.
PageRank Algorithm Today
This algorithm is still in use today and continues to play a role in building organic SERPs. However, it has evolved significantly over time. For example, Gary Illyes confirmed on X (formerly Twitter) that they still use this algorithm, and the recently leaked Google search API documents (as of March 2024) confirm this. Naturally, the algorithm has changed over time since SEO specialists have always tried to manipulate it for better rankings in organic SERPs. But the core idea—that the quantity and quality of links influence how search engines rank you—has remained the same.
The Importance of Links and the Algorithm Today
With advancements in technology like AI, creating content and fixing technical site errors has become much easier. Today, the technical side of SEO, which is undeniably important, and having high-quality content on your site is becoming simpler every year. So, what does Google rely on when, in highly competitive niches, all contenders for the top spots have equally great content and technically sound, fast websites that are easy for Google to crawl?
That’s right—the only metric that can be endlessly increased after content is created and all technical errors are fixed is the number and quality of links to the site. And what’s important is that it’s actually very difficult to objectively determine whose content is better. Put ten representatives of top companies in a certain niche in a room and ask them a controversial question, like which SEO tool calculates keyword difficulty score the best? Ahrefs, Semrush, or Moz? And they’ll all try to convince you that their metric is the best.
On the other hand, with links, it’s much simpler—they can be mathematically counted and built infinitely.
I’m not saying that building links is the ultimate way to outdo all competitors, and sometimes there are sites with better content and no links that outrank sites with worse content but more high-quality links. However, more often, I see sites with links and not-so-great content ranking higher than sites with excellent content but no links at all.
No, I’m not advertising or recommending that you go out and hire a link builder, but it’s hard for me to imagine a successful company today without link-building. I’m sending this thought through the cosmos for you to reflect on…
What You Need to Know About PageRank
Now that we’ve covered the background, let’s dive into the practical part of this article, where I’m not selling SEO services or throwing around complex terms, but rather offering actionable tips related to links that can help you rank a little better than your competitors.
- Fewer Links on a Page Perform Better: As we mentioned earlier, the amount of authority (or PageRank) that is passed through a link depends on the number of links on the page. The fewer links there are, the more authority each link will pass. The total amount of authority a page passes through its links is evenly divided among all of them.
- The Higher the Link in the Code, the Better It Performs: Google knows that 100% of users see the top of a page, but fewer will scroll all the way to the bottom. That’s why I like to put my SEO secrets at the end of my articles—only the most dedicated readers will discover them. The first link in the code generally has the best effect, while the last has the weakest.
- Anchor Text and Surrounding Text Matter: The relevance of the anchor text and the surrounding content significantly impacts the link’s quality. Links with relevant anchor text and content around them have a stronger effect on the ranking of the page being linked to.
- Links Can Improve or Hurt Your Rankings: Non-relevant links or links from websites that violate Google’s guidelines can actually harm your rankings. Be careful who links to you and who you link to.
- You Can Disavow Links: If you don’t want a specific link (or an entire domain) to pass authority to your site, you can add it to a disavow list. This tells Google to ignore these links when determining your PageRank. The nofollow attribute is used by the person linking out to avoid passing authority, while the disavow tool helps you avoid receiving unwanted authority from bad links.
- Alt Text Acts as Anchor for Image Links: If a link is in an image, the alt text serves as the anchor. Google uses this text to understand the image, so it’s important to provide a descriptive alt tag, along with relevant text around the link.
- Home Page PageRank Affects the Value of Other Links on Your Site: The PageRank of your home page significantly influences the authority of links from other pages on your site. The home page is a crucial topic in SEO, and optimizing it is key, as the number of links pointing to it strongly affects how Google views your entire site.
- Anchors Deserve Special Attention: Anchor text is a big factor in passing PageRank, but selecting the right anchors for the best link performance is a topic for an entirely separate article.
- If You Build Two Links from Page A to Page B, Only the First One Works: If you place two links from Page A to Page B, only the first one in the code will count, but the PageRank will be divided between both links. There are exceptions—Google treats links from the content, navigation, and sidebars differently, but that’s a complex topic for another time. What’s clear is that there’s no point in adding multiple links to the same page from a single blog post or placing the same link multiple times in a header menu. Adding extra links can even hurt you because your first link will receive less PageRank as it is spread across all links.
Final Thoughts
Understanding the PageRank algorithm is crucial for running a successful SEO campaign. The links on your site and the links pointing to your site from other websites are incredibly important. Compared to other essential aspects of SEO, building the right link structure with the maximum positive impact is not only challenging for website owners but also for SEO professionals.
However, having a well-thought-out link-building strategy can be the key advantage that elevates you above your competitors.
Links and PageRank are complex, wide-reaching topics that can be discussed endlessly. If you have any questions or disagree with something I’ve said, feel free to reach out. I’ll do my best to address all concerns and questions. I hope this article helped you better understand this old yet still powerful algorithm: PageRank.
