What Exactly is PageRank?

PageRank is the name of an algorithm used for analysing links. It aims to represent the relative import of each document within a set of hyperlinked documents, such as the World Wide Web, by assigning a value to each one. Any collection of reciprocally linked, quoted and referenced, objects can be subject to the algorithm. Google uses it as the basis for all of their search tools; however it is only part of what ranks the search results of the Google search engine.

Created at Stanford University, PageRank got its name from its creator, and part owner of Google, Larry Page. The algorithm has been patented and the name is a trademark of Google. Stanford University has the patent assigned to it, but for the price of 1.8 million of Google’s shares, the university have given Google the exclusive license rights to the patent.

PageRank functions by assigning a value of importance to a page, which is decided on taking the values, or PageRanks, of the pages that link to it. The higher the PageRanks of the pages that link to a given page, the higher the PageRank of that page. It amounts to a probability distribution representing how likely it is for a person to land on a certain page if they are just clicking randomly.

There are problems with this process concerning its being manipulated, and this has drawn much academic attention throughout PageRank’s lifespan. Ways of finding and excluding pages from the process who’s PageRanks are increased artificially have been the focus of intense research. There have been cases where companies sell to webmasters links with high ranks. This has been publicly condemned by Google, who warns that such dishonest attempts to increase a pages rank will result in the relevant pages being ignored from the PageRank process.

PageRank has been, and is still being, used in other important areas apart from Google’s search engine. Such areas include the determination of the importance of species for the health of an environment, and in the linguistic problem of word sense disambiguation. PageRank has been, and will be of increasing value to our thought, and methods of organisation, despite its relative youth.

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