What is PageRank?

PageRank is the link-analysis algorithm Larry Page and Sergey Brin developed at Stanford and described in their 1998 paper on the prototype of Google. It scores each page by the links pointing to it, weighted by the scores of the linking pages themselves. A link from an important page counts for more than a link from an obscure one.

The random surfer model

Imagine someone clicking links at random forever, now and then getting bored and jumping to a random page. A page’s PageRank is the probability that this surfer is on it at any given moment. In its commonly used normalized form:

PR(A) = (1 − d) / N + d × ( PR(T1)/C(T1) + … + PR(Tn)/C(Tn) )

T1…Tn  pages that link to A
C(T)   number of outbound links on page T
d      damping factor, typically 0.85
N      total number of pages

Two consequences still matter for SEO. A page splits its vote among all its links, so a link from a page with five links passes more than one from a page with 500. And importance flows through the whole graph, including through your own site.

Does Google still use PageRank?

Yes, in evolved form. Google’s guide to its ranking systems names link analysis systems and PageRank, describing PageRank as one of the core systems used since Google launched and noting that it has changed a lot since. What disappeared is the public number: the 0–10 Toolbar PageRank stopped updating in 2013 and was retired in 2016. Today no outside tool can show your real PageRank.

Modern link evaluation also weighs relevance, where a link sits on the page and whether it looks editorial — signals the 1998 formula didn’t include.

What it means in practice

• Backlinks from relevant, well-linked pages are worth more than many links from weak pages.
• Internal links distribute PageRank through your site. Pages linked from the homepage and main navigation receive the most.
• Nofollow doesn’t redirect PageRank elsewhere. The share assigned to a nofollowed link isn’t handed to your other links, which is why “PageRank sculpting” stopped working around 2009.
• Redirects pass it. Google has said 3xx redirects don’t lose PageRank, which makes clean 301 redirects safe for migrations.

Common misconceptions

• Treating domain authority or similar third-party scores as PageRank. They are independent estimates built on each vendor’s own crawl.
• Believing links are all that matters. PageRank is one system among many; relevance and content quality decide most queries.
• Buying links to raise it, which is a direct violation of Google’s spam policies.

See how a page passes links

The link analyzer counts every internal and external link on a page and shows their rel attributes, so you can see how many links share a page’s vote and which ones are nofollowed.

Frequently asked questions