How Google calculates links?
Everybody know, Google, by a mile, is the best search engine in the world. The reason for it is the accuracy with which it returns search results. Almost all the times it returns the result that matches the search term. This is due to the path-breaking page rank algorithm adopted by Google. You can find more about this here.
Now to the links. Google weights pages on the basis of links it receives from other pages. Thus if Site A is found in pages Site B and Site C then, Site A is ranked higher than Site B and Site C. In other words, the inbound links to a page is one of the determinants of the page's ranking in search engine. In Google, we can find this out by typing link:followed by the website address.For example, you could take the Google website as example. Go to Google search then type www.google.com. It would display the following result:
Google
Now, click on the Find web pages that contain the term "www.google.com". This would also display the number of sites that has the term www.google.com
But it is not so. Because in almost all the web development softwares if you type a website address they would automatically transfer it to a hyperlink. This is also true for newsgroups and chats. So, by majority all the sites that contain the term www.google.com should have hyperlinked it. So why come this irony.
This is because Google displays links only above a certain page rank. I amn't sure about above which page rank it displays the results. Maybe PR4 or PR5. Thus, if you have 10 sites link to you which have a pagerank of 1 and 2 sites links to you which have a page rank of 8 then, Google would show only there are two sites linking to you. But don't worry, all the pages that contain links to your sites are calculated in Pagerank algorithm. That's why many webmasters want their sites to be linked to sites that have a higher pagerank. To have a test, just consider the following:
Find web pages that link to allforall.bravehost.com
Find web pages that contain the term "allforall.bravehost.com"
If you click on the first one, you won't see any links
But if you click on the second one, you would see a lot(infact close to 1000).
So getting a lot of sites linking to you doesn't work with Google. You should get links from quality sites that have a higher pagerank to increase your ranking in search engines. That's why sites listed in link farms doesnt' really shoot up. Never ever apply or join a link farmm unless you have no other option.
You could also test this the following web page.
Search for link:www.ronpatrickstuff.com on Google. This site has just got one page(only one page) still it has a stunning pagerank of 5. It also doesn't have a lot of links(infact less than 10). But still it is rated higher because it has got links in websites that have a pagerank of more than 5. So it is clear that quality sites should vote you to get a pagerank as in case of www.ronpatrickstuff.com. Else, you would be lingering in the dark inspite of numerous links just as allforall.bravehost.com
Google also doesn't consider links within your site as valid links(but they are considered for the purpose of pagernak calculation. Its also true that they are displayed as links if they have better page ranks). Also,Google makes a distinction between www.google.com and http://www.google.com. You can test this by typing in Google search "www.google.com" and "http://www.google.com".But the more the number of pages, the better would be your pagerank. But it is true only to a certain extent. I don't think you can have a pagerank of more than 6 by just adding pages. Remember, pagerank is just one of the factors that determines your ranking in Google search engine. Concentrate more on your content that anything else as the saying goes "Content is the king" and it is true. Sites with better,clean and quality content would always rank higher.
So, you might have now come to known how Google calculates link. The search results for the above may vary due to different domains of Google. If you think something is fishy or wrong about this, you may post your comment.
Technorati Profile
Now to the links. Google weights pages on the basis of links it receives from other pages. Thus if Site A is found in pages Site B and Site C then, Site A is ranked higher than Site B and Site C. In other words, the inbound links to a page is one of the determinants of the page's ranking in search engine. In Google, we can find this out by typing link:followed by the website address.For example, you could take the Google website as example. Go to Google search then type www.google.com. It would display the following result:
| Enables users to search the Web, Usenet, and images. Features include PageRank, caching and translation of results, and an option to find similar pages. www.google.com/ |
Google can show you the following information for this URL:
- Show Google's cache of www.google.com
- Find web pages that are similar to www.google.com
- Find web pages that link to www.google.com
- Find web pages from the site www.google.com
- Find web pages that contain the term "www.google.com"
Now, click on the Find web pages that contain the term "www.google.com". This would also display the number of sites that has the term www.google.com
But it is not so. Because in almost all the web development softwares if you type a website address they would automatically transfer it to a hyperlink. This is also true for newsgroups and chats. So, by majority all the sites that contain the term www.google.com should have hyperlinked it. So why come this irony.
This is because Google displays links only above a certain page rank. I amn't sure about above which page rank it displays the results. Maybe PR4 or PR5. Thus, if you have 10 sites link to you which have a pagerank of 1 and 2 sites links to you which have a page rank of 8 then, Google would show only there are two sites linking to you. But don't worry, all the pages that contain links to your sites are calculated in Pagerank algorithm. That's why many webmasters want their sites to be linked to sites that have a higher pagerank. To have a test, just consider the following:
Find web pages that link to allforall.bravehost.com
Find web pages that contain the term "allforall.bravehost.com"
If you click on the first one, you won't see any links
But if you click on the second one, you would see a lot(infact close to 1000).
So getting a lot of sites linking to you doesn't work with Google. You should get links from quality sites that have a higher pagerank to increase your ranking in search engines. That's why sites listed in link farms doesnt' really shoot up. Never ever apply or join a link farmm unless you have no other option.
You could also test this the following web page.
Search for link:www.ronpatrickstuff.com on Google. This site has just got one page(only one page) still it has a stunning pagerank of 5. It also doesn't have a lot of links(infact less than 10). But still it is rated higher because it has got links in websites that have a pagerank of more than 5. So it is clear that quality sites should vote you to get a pagerank as in case of www.ronpatrickstuff.com. Else, you would be lingering in the dark inspite of numerous links just as allforall.bravehost.com
Google also doesn't consider links within your site as valid links(but they are considered for the purpose of pagernak calculation. Its also true that they are displayed as links if they have better page ranks). Also,Google makes a distinction between www.google.com and http://www.google.com. You can test this by typing in Google search "www.google.com" and "http://www.google.com".But the more the number of pages, the better would be your pagerank. But it is true only to a certain extent. I don't think you can have a pagerank of more than 6 by just adding pages. Remember, pagerank is just one of the factors that determines your ranking in Google search engine. Concentrate more on your content that anything else as the saying goes "Content is the king" and it is true. Sites with better,clean and quality content would always rank higher.
So, you might have now come to known how Google calculates link. The search results for the above may vary due to different domains of Google. If you think something is fishy or wrong about this, you may post your comment.
Technorati Profile
posted by xlmaster at 12:02 AM
2 Comments:
I had to check the date on this...but what you write was correct 4-5 years ago, but is very wrong now. You need to go and check your facts before writing above.
Google has not used the >PR4 criteria to show a backlink for many years now.
It still holds good. You may do it by means of a simple check. Post your website link in a google group and then just look it up after a couple of days. It won't show any backward links even though it is indexed. Simply, you can use the examples shown in the post. Also, Google(may be other search engines too) doesn't recognise everything as a link for the calculation of backward link
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