PageRank
PageRank is an algorithm used by Google to measure the importance and quality of a page to help rank it within search results. As a key element to Google’s algorithm, it is important to understand how PageRank is determined and how it is used. We cover this within our SEO Office Hours takeaways below, along with further insights from Google.
To learn more about search engines, read our introductory guide: How Do Search Engines Work?
Migrating Domains Can Result in Some Loss of PageRank
When you migrate domains, the full authority is not passed, a few signals may not be carried through which could result in a small drop in performance.
Disallowed URLs Don’t Pass PageRank
If a URL is disallowed in robots.txt, it won’t be crawled, and therefore can’t pass any pagerank.
301 Redirects Pass Full PageRank on a Site Level but Not per URL
If you redirect a full domain, e.g. www to non-www, or http to https, the full authority will be passed over, but individual 301 redirects do not pass the full authority.
Every Step in a Redirect Loses Some PageRank
With redirect chains, some additional authority is lost for each redirect in the chains, so you should minimise them, but the amount is small. Google recommends getting links updated to point directly to the new URL.
PageRank Won’t Ever Be Shown Again
Visible PageRank values probably won’t ever be updated again, but they are still calculating behind the scenes.
Redirecting URLs Do Lose Some PageRank
Changing URLs and using redirects does result in a small loss of PageRank. Keeping original URLs is still better if possible. This is also why Google recommend updating backlinks.