PageRank and Search Engine Optimization
I find it interesting connecting what we have learned in class about how search engines prioritize search results using PageRank using the hub authority computation, with SEO (search engine optimization). In the last exercise of Homework 4, we touched on this subject. If you are intending to create a website, and you want to maximize its ranking, this can be done by adding other web pages with hyperlinks directed towards a combination of your website, and other nodes in order to maximize your directing websites’ ranking power, and ultimately, your main website’s PageRank. As it turns out, this is actually a lucrative industry, where people have mastered the art of generating more traffic for any given website, without need for costly advertising expenses. Clients will pay top dollar for programmers with such skills.
The article below offers beginner advice to people hoping to enter into the world of search engine optimization. Number 7 on the list states “Google scores internal and external links differently”. This pertains to what we studied in class with regards to connecting external hubs to certain nodes via hyperlinks to “up” their standings with the search engine’s PageRank. In reality, search engines like Google have very complex formulas that go far beyond the two step hub authority computation, however at their core, they still use this technique to display the most generic and prominent candidates first. There are also multiple other factors involved, including page speed, quality of the home page, properly formatted sitemaps and so on. All of this, of course, goes unnoticed for the most part. It’s incredible how so many of us take such an intricate algorithm for granted every time we search for content on the Internet.