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PageRank Algorithm

The PageRank algorithm is a method of ranking the web pages in a set of Google search results.

PageRank algorithm

PageRank algorithm

  • PageRank is named after Larry Page who, along with fellow Stanford University student Sergey Brin, developed the algorithm in the mid-1990s.
    • The algorithm judges how important each web page is.
  • The higher the score for a particular page, the closer to the top of the list of results it appears.
Operation

Operation

  • Google searches often contain millions of results, so PageRank is an important method of ensuring useful pages are more prominent in the list.
  • The algorithm has to be run constantly for each web page as the number of external links to the page can change at any time.
Algorithm

Algorithm

  • The PageRank algorithm is written as follows:
    • PR(A)=(1d)+d(PR(T1)C(T1)+...+PR(Tn)C(Tn))PR(A) = (1-d) + d \left(\frac{PR(T_1)}{C(T_1)} + ... + \frac{PR(T_n)}{C(T_n)}\right)
  • Using ‘Web page A’ as an example:
    • PR(A)PR(A) is to the PageRank of ‘Web page A’.
    • PR(Ti)PR(T_i) is the PageRank of any of nn pages which link to ‘Web page A’.
    • C(Ti)C(T_i) is the number of outbound links on the pages which link to ‘Web page A’.
    • dd is the damping factor, which is usually set to 0.85.
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