Search engine optimisation - Google page rank explained!
Google runs on a unique combination of advanced hardware and software. The speed you experience can be attributed in part to the efficiency of the Google search algorithm and partly to the thousands of low cost PC's networked together to create a super fast search engine.
The heart of the Google software is Page Rank™, a system for ranking web pages developed by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford University. And while Google have dozens of engineers working to improve every aspect of Google on a daily basis, Page Rank continues to provide the basis for all Google web search tools.
Page Rank Explained
Page Rank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyses the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important."
Important, high-quality sites receive a higher Page Rank, which Google remembers each time it conducts a search. Of course, important pages mean nothing to you if they don't match your query. So, Google combines Page Rank with sophisticated text-matching techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to your search. Google goes far beyond the number of times a term appears on a page and examines all aspects of the page's content (and the content of the pages linking to it) to determine if it's a good match for your query.
Search Integrity
Google's complex, automated methods make human tampering with results extremely difficult and although google do run relevant ads above and next to the results, Google does not sell placement within the results themselves (i.e., no one can buy a higher Page Rank). A Google search is an easy, honest and objective way to find high-quality web site's with information relevant to your search.
Rankings in search engines.
People often ask us "Which position does my site occupy in a particular search engine?"
This is normally a meaningless question, as ranking is related to a particular search term. Your site will have hundreds or even thousands of different rankings, determined by all the possible search terms which can be constructed, as well as by the number of other competing web sites using the same search term.
Your site’s ranking for a given search term in one search engine will probably be different from your ranking for the same search term in another search engine.
Suppose your business is a bakery and patisserie. Your site may be ranked in position 24,743 with "bakery" as the search term – one major UK engine has over 50,000 listings for "bakery". "Patisserie" has about 6,000 entries. "Bakery and patisserie" has only about 40 entries. ‘"Bakery and patisserie" Cambridge’ on the other hand has only 2 entries.
You should now appreciate the importance of multiple word search terms, and of ensuring that these appear in your web site’s text. Location can be a good discriminator, so do consider having your business address on the web site.
Download the Google Toolbar to see your page rank today and enhance your web searching.
