Introducing PageRank - shattering the myth

Written by Dave Collins


Copyright 2005 SharewarePromotions Ltd

One ofrepparttar most fascinating aspects ofrepparttar 108597 web is its dynamism. We all know that it develops at an astonishing speed - yesterday's craze is today's old news, and bigger and better things seem to be springing up every few days. Some of them crumble quickly into dust, while others seem destined to tower aboverepparttar 108598 rest.

Naturally, search engines also follow this pattern. Some ofrepparttar 108599 early search engine giants remain with us today, but many of them are gone - and every so often, a new champion seems to emerge. Recent years have seenrepparttar 108600 growth and development of a search engine that puts all others to shame. It might have once stood atrepparttar 108601 same level as its rivals, but there is no doubt that for now at least, Google rulesrepparttar 108602 web.

Many ofrepparttar 108603 companies we work with see more traffic from Google than allrepparttar 108604 other search engines put together, and there are more than a few Search Engine Optimisation services who focus almost exclusively on this one engine.

What is Google's secret?

So why is Google so successful? The answer is simply that when a user goes searching on Google, they're likely to find what they're looking for, and more quickly than on any other search engine. Exactly how Google manages to do this is trickier to answer, as they tend to guard their secrets well. They don't want us to know too much about how they determine their search results, simply because they don't want anyone to be able to manipulate their own ranking.

Of course, human nature dictates that many of us aren't satisfied with this. We desperately want to be able to affectrepparttar 108605 ranking of our sites, and some of us will go to great lengths to do so. We work hard to findrepparttar 108606 perfect keywords, tweak our meta tags and optimiserepparttar 108607 content of our site to what we hope is Google perfection.

But recently, a new word has entered our vocabulary, and is surrounded by so much hype that very few people actually have a realistic understanding of what it is - or what it isn't. PageRank is whererepparttar 108608 attention is focused today, and many companies are determined to find a means of improving their magic number. "I want to be an eight," they say, as if PageRank was a dress size that they could grow into withrepparttar 108609 help of some heavy-duty calorie shots. Unfortunately, it's not quite as easy as that.

So what exactly is PageRank? There's a surprisingly simple answer: it is Google's way of estimating how important a web page is. On a basic level, Google decides that if one page links to another,repparttar 108610 second page must be considered important. If one page on one site has 15,000 pages linking to it, it must be for a good reason, right?

Page Rank is about pages, not websites

Let's begin by straightening out a few basic points. First of all, PageRank is assigned on a page-by-page basis. A whole website does not have this score, and different pages within a site can have very different PageRank values assigned. Another important point is thatrepparttar 108611 rating (out of ten) assigned is essentially little more than an approximation of a given page's PageRank. The actual values cover a far greater range than zero to ten.

Before going any further, we should take a look atrepparttar 108612 most important point of all, often overlooked when we get caught up inrepparttar 108613 PageRank frenzy. PageRank is only one factor that Google takes into account when displayingrepparttar 108614 results of a search. There are still other factors of equal significance in performing well on Google - so don't makerepparttar 108615 mistake of thinking that you would live happily ever after if your PageRank was a little bit higher. Other factors include a page's title, andrepparttar 108616 use of keywords withinrepparttar 108617 page's text - not inrepparttar 108618 keyword meta tag.

PageRank is still one of Google's more ingenious strategies, and is certainly one ofrepparttar 108619 many reasons that it stands head and shoulders aboverepparttar 108620 rest. Partly, this is due to a combination of two factors. Firstly thatrepparttar 108621 very nature of PageRank is difficult (but not impossible) to manipulate, and secondly thatrepparttar 108622 exact details of howrepparttar 108623 value is assigned is a closely guarded secret.

However, there is one very useful source of data - an academic paper detailingrepparttar 108624 formula used to calculate PageRank from Google's early beginnings as a university project. This formula will have certainly been altered and expanded overrepparttar 108625 years, but it is generally accepted that it still representsrepparttar 108626 essence of their PageRank system

The Page Rank Formula

The exact details are lengthy, and far beyond what I am capable of dissecting. Butrepparttar 108627 basic formula is as follows:

PR(A) = (1-d) + d (PR(T1)/C(T1) + ….. + PR (Tn)/C(Tn))

PR(A) isrepparttar 108628 PageRank of a particular page (A) - not a website as a whole.

1-d isrepparttar 108629 dampening factor, as explained below.

PR(T1) isrepparttar 108630 PageRank ofrepparttar 108631 page that links to our (A) page, and C(T1) isrepparttar 108632 number of links contained on that same page.

The formula is repeated throughout every single page that contains a link to this (A) page.

Two important points to take into account. First of all, if you're thinking thatrepparttar 108633 formula would in practice be an infinite loop, then you're correct. This isrepparttar 108634 very nature ofrepparttar 108635 web itself, and is also why Google has introducedrepparttar 108636 so called dampening factor.

The second point concernsrepparttar 108637 way that PageRank is awarded by one page to another. The generally accepted means of understanding this is to consider that a given page has, according to its own PageRank, a certain amount of voting power. Ifrepparttar 108638 page in question links to five other pages, then each ofrepparttar 108639 pages being linked to receive their PageRank "award" of one fifth ofrepparttar 108640 original page's voting power. It's also worth noting thatrepparttar 108641 number of links on a page includes a website's internal links.

Link farms don't work

This makes it quite obvious thatrepparttar 108642 so-called link farms, where each page of a website contains many hundreds of links in an attempt to artificially boost so called "link popularity", are doomed to fail fromrepparttar 108643 start. In addition to this, Google has its own system for not only minimisingrepparttar 108644 effect that these sites have, but eliminating it altogether. Asrepparttar 108645 formula shows, PageRank works as a multiplier of a site's overall value, so Google has made sure that link farms have their own value of zero - which means that a link from them counts for nothing, quite literally.

Starting Your Own Part-Time Home-Based Business

Written by Stefanus Wahyudi


Copyright 2005 Stefanus Wahyudi

It has been said many times before but it bears repeating – You will never get rich working for someone else. Working for a steady paycheck is fine for some people, but true financial freedom can only be achieved by taking charge of your own financial future. Starting your own part-time home based business remains one ofrepparttar best strategies for generating consistent passive income and providing you with true financial freedom.

I am a big believer inrepparttar 108596 power ofrepparttar 108597 part-time home-based business for anyone. Whether you are workingrepparttar 108598 typical 9 to 5 lifestyle or already running a successful, full-time business, running your own part-time home based business can be an excellent way to generate additional passive income while learning important lessons in both business and life.

If you already run a business of your own, an additional part-time home based business can not only generate additional passive income, but can provide excellent tax savings and help you benefit fromrepparttar 108599 economies of scale.

If you are working for someone else, an additional part-time home-based business can make you a better employee, in addition to generating excellent passive income to help you live a better lifestyle. Generating your own passive income can give you excellent insights intorepparttar 108600 functioning of your employer, and a deeper understanding ofrepparttar 108601 world in which it operates.

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