PageRank 如同個別網頁價值的指示器，透過龐大的連結架構來信賴網站獨特地民主性質。簡單來說，Google 說明網頁 A 連結至網頁 B 時，則視為網頁 A 投給網頁 B 一票。當然，Google 會查看票數來源，或是連結網頁接收的票數；同時它也會分析參予投票的網頁。透過「重要的」網頁來參予投票，並且幫助其它的網頁也成為「重要的」網頁資料。
重要、優質的網站會得到較高的 PageRank，同時 Google 會記住每次所處理的查詢情況。當然，如果查詢出來的網頁結果並不符合您的需求，重要的網頁對您也不具任何意義。因此，Google 將 PageRank 和精密的內文比對技術結合，來找出重要並且與您的查詢相關的網頁。Google 會將出現於網頁上的字詞顯示出來，並且檢查所有的網頁內容﹝及連結到此網頁的其他網頁內容﹞以決定這樣的查詢結果是否最符合您的需求。
出處:
http://www.google.com.tw/intl/zh-TW/why_use.htmlPageRank is a link analysis algorithm that assigns a numerical weighting to each element of a hyperlinked set of documents, such as the World Wide Web, with the purpose of "measuring" its relative importance within the set. The algorithm may be applied to any collection of entities with reciprocal quotations and references. The numerical weight that it assigns to any given element E is also called the PageRank of E and denoted by PR(E).
PageRank was developed at Stanford University by Larry Page (hence the name Page-Rank[1]) and later Sergey Brin as part of a research project about a new kind of search engine. The project started in 1995 and led to a functional prototype, named Google, in 1998. Shortly after, Page and Brin founded Google Inc., the company behind the Google search engine. While just one of many factors which determine the ranking of Google search results, PageRank continues to provide the basis for all of Google's web search tools.[2]
The name PageRank is a trademark of Google. The PageRank process has been patented (U.S. Patent 6,285,999 ). The patent is not assigned to Google but to Stanford University.
site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank
