PageRank is the link analysis algorithm Larry Page and Sergey Brin described in the late 1990s as part of the original Google search engine. It treats a link as a vote and weights each vote by the importance of the page casting it. Google has said it still uses PageRank-derived signals, but the modern version is not public and is one of many ranking systems.
How the original algorithm works
PageRank models a person clicking links at random across the web. Pages where that random surfer lands more often get higher scores. In practice, that means a page linked from many pages, especially pages that are themselves heavily linked, scores well.
Each page splits its score among its outbound links, and a damping factor accounts for the surfer sometimes jumping to a random page instead of following a link. The calculation repeats until the scores settle.
Toolbar PageRank and why it went away
For years Google showed a 0 to 10 PageRank score in its browser toolbar. It was updated rarely and became a target for link selling, since sites with high scores could charge more. Google stopped updating it around 2013 and removed it entirely in 2016.
Nothing replaced it. Third-party scores such as Moz's Domain Authority or Ahrefs' Domain Rating are sometimes described as PageRank substitutes, but they are separate models built by those companies and Google does not use them.
What it means for SEO today
The core idea still guides sensible practice: links from important, relevant pages matter more than links from obscure ones, and a page's internal links affect how importance flows around your site. Beyond that, the details of how Google weighs links today are not public.
Google's link documentation and spam policies are the most reliable guidance. They focus on links being crawlable, descriptive, and earned rather than bought.
Common mistakes
Treating third-party scores as PageRank
Domain Authority, Domain Rating, and Authority Score are vendor estimates. They can be useful for comparing sites quickly, but Google does not see or use them.
Obsessing over PageRank sculpting
Trying to control exactly how PageRank flows with nofollow internal links is an old tactic that Google neutralized long ago. Focus on clear internal linking for readers.
Questions
Google representatives have said PageRank is still one of its signals, though it has changed since the original paper and is weighed alongside many others. Google does not publish current details.
No. Google has not shown PageRank publicly since 2016. Any site that claims to show your Google PageRank is showing its own estimate.
It is named after Larry Page, though the pun on web pages is often noted.
