{"id":15844,"date":"2020-02-03T12:14:33","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T18:14:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/?p=15844"},"modified":"2020-09-01T11:17:51","modified_gmt":"2020-09-01T16:17:51","slug":"pagerank-why-links-are-so-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/pagerank-why-links-are-so-important\/","title":{"rendered":"PageRank: Why Links Are So Important"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0\">\r\n<article class=\"wp-block-group alignfull has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0\">\r\n<section class=\"wp-block-group alignfull is-style-beige has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-772205c6 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained is-style-beige--1\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50)\">\r\n<header class=\"wp-block-group c-breadcrumbs aligngrid has-global-padding is-content-justification-left is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-61973aa6 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0\">\r\n<header class=\"wp-block-group aligngrid is-content-justification-left is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d68226ec wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30)\">\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\" style=\"margin-bottom:5px\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mediavine-dev.d1.moderntribe.qa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/chevron-left2.svg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-542\" style=\"aspect-ratio:9\/16;object-fit:contain;width:auto;height:20px\"\/><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"is-style-small is-style-small--2\"><a href=\"\/blog\/\">Back to Blog<\/a><\/p>\r\n<\/header>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity aligngrid\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0\"\/>\r\n<\/header>\r\n<\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<section class=\"wp-block-group alignfull is-style-default has-neutral-20-background-color has-background has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--70);padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--60)\"><div class=\"aligncenter aligncenter wp-block-tribe-terms\"><ul class=\"wp-block-tribe-terms__list\"><li class=\"wp-block-tribe-terms__term\"><span class=\"wp-block-tribe-terms__link t-category\">SEO Like A CEO<\/span><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\r\n\r\n<h1 style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--10);\" class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-post-title\">PageRank: Why Links Are So Important<\/h1>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-content-justification-center is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-9b38c6d9 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\" style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);margin-bottom:0;padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0\"><div style=\"margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;margin-left:0;margin-right:0;\" class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-post-author-name\">Eric Hochberger<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>\u2022<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0;padding-left:0;padding-right:0;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;margin-left:0;margin-right:0;\" class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-post-date has-10-font-size\"><time datetime=\"2020-02-03T12:14:33-06:00\">February 3, 2020<\/time><\/div><\/div>\r\n<\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<section class=\"wp-block-group alignfull has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0\"><h2>What is PageRank?<\/h2>\nPageRank is the original Google Search algorithm, written by Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin while at Stanford. To oversimplify its concept, PageRank uses links to evaluate the importance of pages and determine their ordering in search results.<!--more-->\n\nAs the original and most important factor in Google Search, we&#8217;d be remiss to not discuss PageRank in our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/what-is-seo-introducing-the-mediavine-search-engine-optimization-series\/\">SEO series<\/a>. Even though it&#8217;s no longer the most talked-about ranking signal, the fundamentals behind PageRank are still important and relevant to this day.\n<div class=\"video-responsive\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/E0IKNDAl8r4\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h2>Why is it called PageRank?<\/h2>\nPageRank is a clever play on the name of Google co-founder Larry Page. It also refers to the concept of PageRank, which looks at the web as a series of web pages, as opposed to websites.\n\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-15999 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Mediavine-Pins-with-Photos-5.jpg\" alt=\"What is page rank?: If you're working on SEO, it's something you need to know. But should it matter to you? - Mediavine Pinterest Image\" width=\"735\" height=\"1102\" data-pin-title=\"What is Pagerank? \" data-pin-description=\"What is pagerank? Learn why it's important and should matter to you, especially if you are working on SEO. \" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Mediavine-Pins-with-Photos-5.jpg 735w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Mediavine-Pins-with-Photos-5-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Mediavine-Pins-with-Photos-5-307x460.jpg 307w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 735px) 100vw, 735px\" \/>\n<h2>How is PageRank calculated? An over-simplified example.<\/h2>\n<strong>We can&#8217;t emphasize enough that this example (and entire article) involves simplifying a remarkably complex subject for instructional purposes.<\/strong>\n\nWith that disclaimer, our breakdown of the PageRank algorithm involves a world with five pages on the entire Internet: A, B, C, D and E.\n\nEach page starts off with a PageRank of 1\/n, where n is the total number of pages on the Internet.\n\nIn our example, the total number of pages online is five, giving each a starting PageRank of 1\/5, or <strong>0.2<\/strong>.\n\nGoogle\u2019s web crawler is then going to crawl each of these pages and look for the links on the pages.\n\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-mv_create_no_ratio wp-image-16012 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/seo-series-pagerank-01-735x413.png\" alt=\"graph showing How pagerank is calculated\" width=\"735\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/seo-series-pagerank-01-735x413.png 735w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/seo-series-pagerank-01-441x248.png 441w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/seo-series-pagerank-01-818x460.png 818w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/seo-series-pagerank-01-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/seo-series-pagerank-01-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/seo-series-pagerank-01-320x180.png 320w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/seo-series-pagerank-01-480x270.png 480w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/seo-series-pagerank-01-720x405.png 720w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/seo-series-pagerank-01.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 735px) 100vw, 735px\" \/>\n\nYou can think of links as \u201cvotes\u201d for other web pages, and unlike local elections, you get multiple votes. The impact of these votes vary widely, however.\n\nIf you vote for two things, you split your vote \u2014 like casting \u201chalf\u201d votes for two objects. Vote for three things? Each only gets one-third of your votes.\n\nSo back to our example above.\n\nLet\u2019s say Page A links to B and C. Google is now going to transfer its 0.2 PageRank equally to B and C, so each will receive 0.1.\n\nPage B now has the original 0.2 it began with, PLUS 0.1, for <strong>0.3 total<\/strong>.\n\nPage B now gets to casts its votes. B links back to A, but also to C and B. Divide that 0.3 by 3, and we can pass on 0.1 to each of the pages B voted for.\n\nWe repeat this process for each page and after that round, everyone will have a new PageRank.\n\nAs we continue to repeat the process, we apply what\u2019s called a \u201cdamping factor\u201d so that eventually, the votes stop and the numbers begin to stabilize.\n\nIn the end of this process, we\u2019ll find that Page A ends up being the most popular due to all the votes it got from the other pages.\n\nMeanwhile, B and E ended up with the lowest PageRank. While B received a link from A, the highest ranking page in our example, it only had one link, which was equal to the two that E received, tying those two pages for last.&nbsp;\n\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-mv_create_no_ratio wp-image-16011 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/seo-series-pagerank-07-735x413.png\" alt=\"graph showing How pagerank is calculated\" width=\"735\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/seo-series-pagerank-07-735x413.png 735w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/seo-series-pagerank-07-441x248.png 441w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/seo-series-pagerank-07-818x460.png 818w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/seo-series-pagerank-07-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/seo-series-pagerank-07-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/seo-series-pagerank-07-320x180.png 320w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/seo-series-pagerank-07-480x270.png 480w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/seo-series-pagerank-07-720x405.png 720w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/seo-series-pagerank-07.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 735px) 100vw, 735px\" \/>\n\nPretty cool how that worked out, right? We now have rankings ranging from 0.17-0.25 for our five pages.\n\nBut wait&#8230; does anyone remember the old Google toolbar? PageRank was always a score of 1 to 10.\n\nThat toolbar figure was just a simplified, relative display of PageRank in which the most popular web pages would score 10, and the least popular would score 0 if they had no incoming links at all.\n\nScaling every score into whole numbers relative to other pages gave users the opportunity to view PageRank more simply and usefully. Think of it this way: Which makes it clearer that Page A was our most popular, a 0.25 score out of 0.25 or a 10 out of 10?\n\nIf your eyes are glazed over from this example, imagine doing it for trillions of pages \u2014 and using the actual formula, not my basic simplified model.\n\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-16000 size-mv_create_no_ratio\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Person-Holding-Smartphone-White-Sitting-735x490.jpg\" alt=\"woman scrolling on her smartphone\" width=\"735\" height=\"490\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Person-Holding-Smartphone-White-Sitting-735x490.jpg 735w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Person-Holding-Smartphone-White-Sitting-441x294.jpg 441w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Person-Holding-Smartphone-White-Sitting-690x460.jpg 690w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Person-Holding-Smartphone-White-Sitting-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Person-Holding-Smartphone-White-Sitting.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 735px) 100vw, 735px\" \/>\n<h2>Does PageRank Matter in 2020?<\/h2>\nPeople can debate in 2020 how important PageRank is in the current Google algorithm, or if it\u2019s even still used at all in its original form. There&#8217;s no mistaking that links still play a key role in Search Results, however.\n\nDon&#8217;t believe me? Believe Google itself. The company&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/webmasters\/answer\/7451184?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SEO Starter Guide<\/a> mentions &#8220;link&#8221; 80 times and literally starts with its advice: Help Google find your content either with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/video-sitemaps\/\">sitemap<\/a> or links.\n\nLinks matter. Understanding <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/internal-links-pagerank-and-simple-seo-you-can-control\/\">PageRank<\/a> will help you understand how and why links matter.\n<h2>Where did we get this information from?<\/h2>\nIt&#8217;s actually all published by Stanford, where Page and Brin came up with this algorithm while researching a new search engine at the University.\n\nYou can read Larry Page&#8217;s &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/ilpubs.stanford.edu:8090\/422\/1\/1999-66.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">PageRank: Bringing Order to the Web<\/a>&#8221; paper at Stanford to get the full formula and algorithm information, and our example ranking example from a <a href=\"https:\/\/web.stanford.edu\/class\/cs54n\/handouts\/24-GooglePageRankAlgorithm.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Google PageRank Algorithm handout<\/a> by Eric Roberts for the Stanford CD 54N class.\n\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-13742 size-mv_create_no_ratio\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/AdobeStock_189561598-1-735x491.jpeg\" alt=\"Women at her desk typing on her laptop to learn about PageRank and why links are so important\" width=\"735\" height=\"491\">\n<h2>TL;DR: How PageRank should matter to you<\/h2>\nThere\u2019s four key takeaways from PageRank that I believe are helpful and relevant to all of you right now. That the concepts are still important whether PageRank specifically is or not.\n<h3>1. Links are votes<\/h3>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/the-art-of-giving-and-receiving-backlinks\/\">Linking to something<\/a> is voting for that page in Google\u2019s eye. Every time you link to any page, you are signaling to Google that you trust and recommend that page to users.\n<h3>2. You can vote for yourself<\/h3>\nIn our example above, we simply identified things as pages \u2014 not websites. That\u2019s how PageRank evaluates the web. Everything is just a page. That means, yes, your pages can and should link to your own pages, and those votes count!\n<h3>3. But your votes only matter if someone with votes also voted for you<\/h3>\nYou can vote for yourself around the clock, but no man is an island.\n\nThat guy in the corner voting for himself doesn\u2019t matter if no one else voted for him first. You need the popular people with lots of votes to vote for you. Remember, it&#8217;s not just number of links that matter, it&#8217;s the source \u2014 WHO is linking to YOU?\n<h3>4. Be careful who and what you link to<\/h3>\nI can\u2019t stress this enough.\n\nYour votes are divided amongst every page you\u2019re linking to from a page. If you\u2019re voting for an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/external-links\/\">external page<\/a>, make sure it\u2019s a high quality one that you trust. Then make sure you also vote for yourself plenty of times on that same page so you\u2019re not passing on all of your votes.\n\nStill overwhelmed? Don\u2019t be.\n\nWe\u2019ll be covering so much more on linking and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/mediavines-seo-resources\/\">SEO<\/a> over the coming months. PageRank is just something to keep in the back of your mind. What matters most is that you\u2019re following linking best practices, like using useful <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/what-is-anchor-text-seo-best-practices-for-links\/\">anchor text<\/a>.\n\nWhy? Because PageRank, although still likely a part of the Google algorithm, is just one of many ranking signals Google has added since its inception.\n\n<em>We&#8217;ll be back soon with another post in the SEO Like A CEO series. Subscribe to our <a href=\"http:\/\/youtube.com\/mediavine\">YouTube Channel<\/a> to catch all our videos in this series.&nbsp;<\/em><\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<section class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"margin-top:0\">\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-09aec4f2 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);padding-right:0;padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--60)\">\r\n<p class=\"is-style-small is-style-small--3\">About the author<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);\" class=\"wp-block-post-author\"><div class=\"wp-block-post-author__avatar\"><img alt='' src='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/152dc08941c75895b80ffc4d0f79236a870658434ec66e25f227ffe962e70114?s=96&#038;d=blank&#038;r=g' srcset='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/152dc08941c75895b80ffc4d0f79236a870658434ec66e25f227ffe962e70114?s=192&#038;d=blank&#038;r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-96 photo' height='96' width='96' \/><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-post-author__content\"><p class=\"wp-block-post-author__name\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/author\/eric\/\" target=\"_self\">Eric Hochberger<\/a><\/p><p class=\"wp-block-post-author__bio\"><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-7c04bf6b wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"margin-top:0\">\r\n<p class=\"is-style-small is-style-small--4\">Share this page<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<ul class=\"wp-block-outermost-social-sharing has-normal-icon-size has-icon-color is-style-logos-only is-content-justification-left is-layout-flex wp-container-outermost-social-sharing-is-layout-9d3a6402 wp-block-social-sharing-is-layout-flex\" 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screen-reader-text\">\n\t\t\tShare on WhatsApp\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/section>\r\n<\/article>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<aside class=\"wp-block-group aligngrid  is-animated-on-scroll-25 tribe-animation-type-fade-in tribe-animation-direction-bottom is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\" style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);margin-bottom:0;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--60);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);--tribe-animation-speed:0.6s;--tribe-animation-offset:50px;--tribe-animation-delay:0s;--tribe-animation-easing:var(--easing--ease-out-sine)\">\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-small is-style-small--5\" id=\"h-related-posts\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40)\">Related Posts<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"margin-bottom:0;\" class=\"b-related-posts b-related-posts--layout-grid  wp-block-tribe-related-posts\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<article class=\"c-post-card c-post-card__layout-vertical\">\n\t<div class=\"c-post-card__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-post-card__image aspect-ratio-cover aspect-ratio-3-2\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"582\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-1024x582.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"woman concentrating on her laptop in a workspace\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-1024x582.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-320x182.jpeg 320w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-768x436.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-1536x872.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-2048x1163.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-1170x664.jpeg 1170w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-375x213.jpeg 375w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-800x454.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-569x323.jpeg 569w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-353x200.jpeg 353w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-288x164.jpeg 288w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-335x190.jpeg 335w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-347x197.jpeg 347w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-520x295.jpeg 520w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-640x363.jpeg 640w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-960x545.jpeg 960w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/AdobeStock_443672686-1080x613.jpeg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-post-card__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"c-post-card__primary-category t-category\">SEO<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"c-post-card__title t-display-xx-small t-transparent-underline\">Should I Republish Content? There&#8217;s a Better Way<\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"c-post-card__metadata\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-post-card__metadata-author t-body-small\">Eric Hochberger<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-post-card__metadata-separator t-body-small\">\u2022<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-post-card__metadata-date t-body-small\">Oct 21, 2021<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"c-post-card__excerpt\">Back to Blog \u2022 Whether it&#8217;s for SEO or monetization purposes, we always encourage publishers to update old content. We&#8217;ve discussed at length how specifically to update content to improve RPM and optimize for SEO, but today we\u2019re focusing on a specific and surprisingly controversial aspect. How to handle the modified and published date may&#8230;<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/should-i-republish-content-theres-a-better-way\/\" class=\"c-post-card__link-overlay\" aria-label=\"Read more about Should I Republish Content? There&#8217;s a Better Way\"><\/a>\n<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t\t<article class=\"c-post-card c-post-card__layout-vertical\">\n\t<div class=\"c-post-card__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-post-card__image aspect-ratio-cover aspect-ratio-3-2\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-1024x682.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"man standing up using a desktop computer\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-320x213.jpg 320w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-1170x779.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-375x250.jpg 375w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-555x370.jpg 555w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-344x229.jpg 344w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-281x187.jpg 281w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-335x223.jpg 335w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-347x231.jpg 347w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-520x346.jpg 520w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-640x426.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-960x640.jpg 960w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/SEO-Like-a-Slab-of-Beef-04-1080x719.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-post-card__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"c-post-card__primary-category t-category\">Mediavine<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"c-post-card__title t-display-xx-small t-transparent-underline\">SEO is a Garden a.k.a. 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The Parboil Strikes Back\"><\/a>\n<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t\t<article class=\"c-post-card c-post-card__layout-vertical\">\n\t<div class=\"c-post-card__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-post-card__image aspect-ratio-cover aspect-ratio-3-2\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/woman-looking-at-her-laptop-sitting-on-the-couch.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"woman looking at her laptop sitting on the couch\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/woman-looking-at-her-laptop-sitting-on-the-couch.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/woman-looking-at-her-laptop-sitting-on-the-couch-320x213.jpg 320w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/woman-looking-at-her-laptop-sitting-on-the-couch-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/woman-looking-at-her-laptop-sitting-on-the-couch-375x250.jpg 375w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/woman-looking-at-her-laptop-sitting-on-the-couch-555x370.jpg 555w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/woman-looking-at-her-laptop-sitting-on-the-couch-344x229.jpg 344w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/woman-looking-at-her-laptop-sitting-on-the-couch-281x187.jpg 281w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/woman-looking-at-her-laptop-sitting-on-the-couch-335x223.jpg 335w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/woman-looking-at-her-laptop-sitting-on-the-couch-347x231.jpg 347w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/woman-looking-at-her-laptop-sitting-on-the-couch-520x346.jpg 520w, https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/woman-looking-at-her-laptop-sitting-on-the-couch-640x426.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-post-card__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"c-post-card__primary-category t-category\">SEO<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"c-post-card__title t-display-xx-small t-transparent-underline\">Should You Delete Content or Just Stop Linking? An SEO Dilemma<\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"c-post-card__metadata-readtime\">8 minutes<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"c-post-card__metadata\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-post-card__metadata-author t-body-small\">Eric Hochberger<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-post-card__metadata-separator t-body-small\">\u2022<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-post-card__metadata-date t-body-small\">Jul 13, 2021<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"c-post-card__excerpt\">Back to Blog \u2022 If you&#8217;re a new blogger, bookmark this and come back in a few years. But if you&#8217;ve been blogging for awhile, you may have already asked yourself this SEO question: Should you delete content that&#8217;s old and\/or not doing a lot for you? Looking for a quick answer? Sorry. We&#8217;re going&#8230;<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/should-you-delete-content-or-just-stop-linking\/\" class=\"c-post-card__link-overlay\" aria-label=\"Read more about Should You Delete Content or Just Stop Linking? An SEO Dilemma\"><\/a>\n<\/article>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/aside>\r\n<\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Back to Blog \u2022 What is PageRank? PageRank is the original Google Search algorithm, written by Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin while at Stanford. To oversimplify its concept, PageRank uses links to evaluate the importance of pages and determine their ordering in search results. What is PageRank? PageRank is the original Google Search&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":21614,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,93],"tags":[],"audience_post":[],"class_list":["post-15844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seo","category-seo-like-a-ceo"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.1 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>PageRank: Why Links Are So Important - Mediavine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"PageRank is the original Google Search algorithm, still relevant today, that uses links to determine importance of pages and their order in search results.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/pagerank-why-links-are-so-important\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"PageRank: Why Links Are So Important\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PageRank is the original Google Search algorithm, still relevant today, that uses links to determine importance of pages and their order in search results.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/pagerank-why-links-are-so-important\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mediavine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mediavinepublishernetwork\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-03T18:14:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-01T16:17:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/woman-in-green-shirt-blogging-1168.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1168\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"779\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Eric Hochberger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@mediavine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@mediavine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Eric Hochberger\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/pagerank-why-links-are-so-important\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/pagerank-why-links-are-so-important\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Eric Hochberger\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ebd6f771035eb5c34fc588d95c5322bb\"},\"headline\":\"PageRank: Why Links Are So Important\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-03T18:14:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-01T16:17:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/pagerank-why-links-are-so-important\/\"},\"wordCount\":1188,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/pagerank-why-links-are-so-important\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/woman-in-green-shirt-blogging-1168.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"SEO\",\"SEO Like A CEO\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/pagerank-why-links-are-so-important\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/blog\/pagerank-why-links-are-so-important\/\",\"name\":\"PageRank: Why Links Are So Important - 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