Key points
PageRank is the link analysis algorithm created by Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford, described in 1998. It estimates the importance of a page from the links it receives and the importance of the pages that send them. Google says it has evolved a lot and is still part of its core ranking systems.
- A link from an important page weighs more than a link from an obscure page.
- The public 0 to 10 score disappeared in 2016: no tool gives the real PageRank.
- Since 2024, Google says it needs “very few links” to rank a page.
What is PageRank?
PageRank is a measure of popularity based on links. Each link from a page A to a page B counts as a recommendation. That recommendation is worth more if A is itself highly recommended.
Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page presented it in 1998 in their founding paper on the Google prototype (Stanford University, 1998). Lawrence Page filed the corresponding patent on January 9, 1998. It was granted on September 4, 2001 (patent US6285999) and has now expired.
In the same paper, the two researchers make an observation. Search engines based only on keyword matching returned too many low-quality results. PageRank added a signal that is hard to produce on your own: recommendation by other sites.
How is PageRank calculated?
The original model imagines a user clicking at random from link to link, the “random surfer”. A page’s PageRank is the probability that this surfer is on it at any given moment. The formula published in 1998 is as follows:
PR(A) = (1 - d) + d × ( PR(T1)/C(T1) + ... + PR(Tn)/C(Tn) )- T1 to Tn: the pages that link to A.
- C(T): the number of outbound links on page T. Its PageRank is shared among them.
- d: the damping factor, the probability that the surfer keeps clicking instead of starting again from a random page.
0.85
The usual value of the damping factor d in the PageRank calculation described by Brin and Page.
Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page, The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine, Stanford, 1998.
Two practical consequences follow from the formula. A page that multiplies its outbound links passes less to each one. And a few links from well-linked pages weigh more than many links from isolated pages. These calculations describe the original model, not the Google of 2026. They help you reason, never to forecast a figure.
From the random surfer to the reasonable surfer
A Google patent filed on June 17, 2004 describes a “reasonable surfer”. In it, the links on a page no longer all have the same probability of being followed. Their weight depends on their position, the size of the text or the anchor (patent US7716225, granted on May 11, 2010).
Hence the idea, taken up by practitioners, that a link placed in the body text is worth more than a footer link. Careful: a patent describes a possible invention, it does not prove it is used in production.
Does Google still use PageRank?
Yes. Google mentions it in its guide to ranking systems (Google Search Central, December 10, 2025). PageRank is described there as “one of our core ranking systems used when Google first launched”. It “has evolved a lot since then” and is still part of those systems.
What has disappeared is the visible score. The Google Toolbar used to show a rating from 0 to 10. Its last update dates from March 7, 2016, and the tools that used it stopped in the following weeks (Search Engine Roundtable, March 9, 2016). Any site that claims to show your Google PageRank today is giving its own estimate.
The weight of links, for its part, has been played down. In April 2024, Gary Illyes (Google) said: “we need very few links to rank pages” (Search Engine Journal, April 22, 2024). He added that Google has made links less important over the years. Links count, but they make up neither for weak content nor for a poorly served intent.
Can you measure your PageRank today?
No, not Google’s. SEO tool vendors calculate their own metrics from their crawl of the web. They are used to compare and sort pages or sites. They do not tell you the value Google assigns to them.
| Tool | Metrics | What they estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs | Domain Rating, URL Rating | Strength of the link profile of a domain or a URL |
| Majestic | Trust Flow, Citation Flow | Assumed quality and volume of links received |
| Moz | Domain Authority, Page Authority | Estimated authority of a domain or a page |
Key takeaway
No third-party metric reproduces Google. Use them to sort a list of sites or follow a trend, never as an absolute score.
What PageRank changes for your site
The model is still useful for making good structural decisions. Four levers follow directly from it.
Internal linking
The popularity a page receives is passed on to the pages it links to. Clear internal linking directs this popularity towards the pages that matter for your business. Organising pages by topic, in the manner of a semantic cocoon, applies the same principle.
External links
A backlink from a page that is itself cited is worth more than a series of links from pages nobody links to. The quality of the source page comes before volume. That is the core of a healthy link building strategy.
The nofollow, sponsored and ugc attributes
Links marked nofollow, sponsored or ugc are generally not followed by Google (Google Search Central, December 10, 2025). They are not a way to distribute your popularity. Keep them for paid links, user contributions and sites you do not wish to recommend.
Redirects
The original model suggested that a redirect lost part of the PageRank. In 2016, Gary Illyes said that 30x redirects no longer lose PageRank. He specified that the 301 is the best help for designating the canonical URL (Search Engine Roundtable, August 8, 2016). For a migration, the 301 redirect therefore remains the rule.
Common misconceptions about PageRank
| Misconception | What we know |
|---|---|
| “My PageRank is 4 out of 10” | The public score has not existed since March 2016 |
| “A 301 loses 15% of PageRank” | Google said in 2016 that 30x redirects no longer lose PageRank |
| “Internal nofollow concentrates PageRank” | Google reserves nofollow for links you do not want associated with your site |
| “The more links I have, the better I rank” | Google says it needs very few links (April 2024) |
| “Topical PageRank is official” | A practitioners’ theory, never documented by Google |
| “PageRank is useless now” | Google lists it among its core ranking systems (December 10, 2025) |
Do not judge your link profile on a single score. A backlink audit cross-checks several indicators and looks at the source pages one by one. The guide to website structure details how PageRank applies to the structure of a site.
Frequently asked questions
What is PageRank?
PageRank is Google’s link analysis algorithm. It estimates the importance of a page according to the number and importance of the pages that link to it. Google says it is still part of its core ranking systems (December 10, 2025).
Who created PageRank?
Larry Page and Sergey Brin, then at Stanford University. They described it in 1998 in the founding paper on the Google prototype. The patent was filed by Lawrence Page on January 9, 1998 and granted in 2001.
Does PageRank still exist?
Yes within Google’s systems, no as a public score. The toolbar’s 0 to 10 rating stopped being updated in March 2016. The metrics in current SEO tools are estimates specific to each vendor.
How do you improve your PageRank?
Get links from pages that are themselves recognised in your field. Organise your internal linking so that your important pages receive links. Fix broken internal links and redirect chains. No action guarantees a measurable gain.
How do you rank number 1 on Google?
No method guarantees it. A page ranks by answering the intent of the query better than the others. It also needs reliable content and an accessible site. Links help, but Google says it needs very few of them.
Sources
- Sergey Brin, Lawrence Page, Stanford University, The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine, 1998. Accessed on September 24, 2026.
- Lawrence Page, US6285999B1, Method for node ranking in a linked database, filed on January 9, 1998, granted on September 4, 2001. Accessed on September 24, 2026.
- Jeffrey A. Dean, Corin Anderson, Alexis Battle (Google), US7716225B1, Ranking documents based on user behavior and/or feature data, filed on June 17, 2004, granted on May 11, 2010. Accessed on September 24, 2026.
- Google Search Central, A guide to Google Search ranking systems, updated on December 10, 2025. Accessed on September 24, 2026.
- Google Search Central, Qualify your outbound links to Google, updated on December 10, 2025. Accessed on September 24, 2026.
- Barry Schwartz, Search Engine Roundtable, Google Toolbar PageRank Is Now Officially Dead, published on March 9, 2016. Accessed on September 24, 2026.
- Search Engine Roundtable, Google Says Any 30x Redirect Passes PageRank But 301s Help With Canonicalization, published on August 8, 2016. Accessed on September 24, 2026.
- Search Engine Journal, Google Confirms Links Are Not That Important, published on April 22, 2024. Accessed on September 24, 2026.
Digital marketing, SEO and GEO consultant
Article checked and updated by the author. Sources consulted on the date shown.
Cite this article
, . (2026, September 26). PageRank: how Google measures the popularity of pages. Elev8 Lab. https://elev8-lab.fr/en/seo/pagerank/