How To Increase Google Pagerank?

Last Updated: July 22nd, 2020
| By Shaun Anderson  |
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Google Pagerank Updates Explained

TL:Dr: How To Increase Google Pagerank

Google probably uses an updated version of Pagerank like the reasonable surfer and Trusted Seeds approach. Pagerank is a measure of the popularity of a resource on the web. The simple, most practical answer to increasing Google Pagerank is to get prominent, natural links on authoritative websites in your niche.

Understand the basics:

  1. Google still uses Pagerank
  2. Pagerank is one of over hundreds of signals Google uses to rank web pages.
  3. Google does not tell us Pagerank scores (and haven’t done so since 2013)
  4. Google probably uses an updated version of Pagerank than the original patent (one they own outright)
  5. Google probably uses the Reasonable Surfer model of Pagerank
  6. A prominent link on a page probably passes more value than other links on the page
  7. Pages with higher Pagerank will not necessarily rank higher than other pages with a lower Pagerank
  8. Pages with a high Pagerank probably get crawled more often
  9. Pages with a low Pagerank probably are crawled a lot less
  10. You should not focus on Pagerank before building a high quality website

Does Google Still Use Pagerank?

QUOTE: “DYK that after 18 years we’re still using* PageRank (and 100s of other signals) in ranking? Gary Illyes from Google” Gary Illyes, Google 2017

Yes.

Does Google Tell Us Our Pagerank Score?

QUOTE: “Retiring the PageRank display from Toolbar helps avoid confusing users and webmasters about the significance of the metric.” John Mueller, Google, 2016

No.

What Is Pagerank?

PageRank is one of over hundreds of signals Google uses to rank web pages.

Google says:

QUOTE: “PageRank 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.” Google

Google also says:

QUOTE: “Webpages with a higher PageRank are more likely to appear at the top of Google search results.” Google

…but that is NOT the whole story, as PR does not help determine keyword relevance.

A high quality link building strategy is what is required.

Has Google Changed The Way Pagerank Works Since The Original Patent?

Yes.

QUOTE: “The original Random Surfer PageRank patent from Stanford has expired. The Reasonable Surfer version of PageRank (assigned to Google) is newer than that one, and has been updated via a continuation patent at least once. The version of PageRank based upon a trusted seed set of sites (assigned to Google) has also been updated via a continuation patent and differs in many ways from the Stanford version of PageRank. It is likely that Google may be using one of the versions of PageRank that they have control over (the exclusive license to use Stanford’s version of PageRank has expired along with that patent). The updated versions of PageRank (reasonable surfer and Trusted Seeds approach) both are protected under present day patents assigned to Google, and both have been updated to reflect modern processes in how they are implemented. Because of their existence, and the expiration of the original, I would suggest that it is unlikely that the random surfer model-base PageRank is still being used.” Bill Slawski, 2018

We don’t know which version of Pagerank is used by Google. Unconfirmed reports tell us they use a modified version of the original Pagerank algorithm.

What Was Toolbar Pagerank?

Toolbar PR was a ‘simplification of REAL Pagerank that was published for webmasters. Toolbar PageRank, the public version of PageRank shown in browser toolbar plugins, has been completely phased out by Google.

How To Check Your Website Google Pagerank

QUOTE: “We’ve been telling people for a long time that they shouldn’t focus on PageRank so much; many site owners seem to think it’s the most important metric for them to track, which is simply not true. We removed it because we felt it was silly to tell people not to think about it, but then to show them the data, implying that they should look at it. :-),”Susan Moskwa, Google, 2014

You can’t.

Google does not release Google Pagerank scores any more.

Will A Higher Google Pagerank Increase My Rankings?

Not necessarily.

Google has other algorithms that look at user experience, ad placement and website content quality scoring. All of these together determines where a page ranks, not just Pagerank.

Should I Nofollow External Links To Keep My Google Pagerank?

QUOTE: “I’d recommend not using nofollow for kind of PageRank sculpting within a website because it probably doesn’t do what you think it does” John Mueller, Google 2017

No.

There’s much better reward, in most cases, in linking out to others, and building relationships with like-minded authors on other sites, than to hoard Pagerank.

Do not fear linking to sites you trust.

Your site is actually more valuable to Google and other search engines if you link out sensibly, and editorially.

More importantly, it’s more valuable to other web masters and ultimately USERS.

Check out recommendations for rel nofollow links if you want to block PR from flowing, for whatever reason.

When Was The Last Google Pagerank Update?

The Last Toolbar Pagerank Update was December 2013

When Will The Next Google Pagerank Update Happen?

It wont.

The Last Toolbar Pagerank Update was 5/6 December 2013 and Google declared thereafter:

QUOTE: “PageRank is something that we haven’t updated for over a year now, and we’re probably not going to be updating it again gong forward, at least the Toolbar version.” John Mueller, Google 2014

… and they haven’t updated Pagerank publicly since.

Previous Google Pagerank Updates

Google had a history of updating Toolbar Pagerank and they updated it whenever they want. Webmasters soon came to expect a quarterly schedule. Webmasters have been told NOT to expect another Toolbar Pagerank Update.

  • 5/6 December 2013 (LAST PAGERANK UPDATE EVER)
  • 4 February 2013
  • 7 November 2012
  • 2 August 2012
  • 2 May 2012
  • 7 February 2012
  • 7 November 2011
  • 1st Week August 2011
  • JULY 2011
  • JUNE 2011
  • JANUARY 2011
  • April 2010
  • Dec 31, 2009
  • 30 October 2009
  • 27/28 May 2009
  • June 2009
  • 1 / 2 April 2009
  • 30-31 December 2008
  • 27 September 2008
  • 26 July 2008
  • 29 April 2008
  • 9 January 2008
  • 26 October 2007
  • 28 April 2007