“Ask David” short answer: yes. While you can’t see it anymore, PageRank is still a “core” part of how Google determines which websites are trustworthy and important.
Related: What Makes a Simple Website Feel Trustworthy? (From Real User Experience, Not Theory)
However, the PageRank of today is very different from the simple “0 to 10” score people obsessed over in the early 2000s.
How PageRank Works in 2026
In the early days, PageRank was the primary way Google ranked pages. Today, it is one signal among hundreds, and its role has evolved from a simple popularity contest into a sophisticated measure of authority.
Related: How to Increase Website Domain Authority Fast?
What is the difference between brand authority and domain authority?
1. It is no longer public
Google retired the public “PageRank Toolbar” in 2016. If a website claims to show you your “Official Google PageRank,” they are usually using a proxy metric (like Moz’s Domain Authority or Ahrefs’ Domain Rating) rather than Google’s internal data.
Related: Moz Domain Authority vs. Search Console Insights – Best to Measure SEO?
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How to Check How Your Web Page or Blog Post is Ranking in Google
2. Focus on Quality over Quantity
Originally, the more links you had, the better. Now, Google uses a “Reasonable Surfer” model. It asks: How likely is a real human to click this link?
- High Value: A link in the middle of a high-traffic, relevant article.
- Low Value: A link buried in a footer, a sidebar, or on a page that has nothing to do with your topic.
3. It’s part of E-E-A-T
PageRank now feeds into Google’s broader E-E-A-T framework (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness). Google uses link patterns to decide if your site is an “authority” in a specific niche.
Related: How to Build a Website That Ranks and Converts with E-E-A-T
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4. Internal “Seed Sets”
Internal leaks and patents suggest Google now uses a “Seed Set” of highly trusted sites (like the New York Times or Wikipedia). The closer your site is to these “seeds” in terms of link distance, the more “trusted” your PageRank becomes.
Related: How well-known do you need to be to get a Wikipedia Page (and not have it removed)?
How this matters for you
If you are managing a website, you don’t need to “calculate” PageRank, but you should follow its core principles:
- Internal Linking: Use links to guide Google to your most important pages. A page with no internal links (an “orphan page”) will have a PageRank of nearly zero.
- Avoid Link Spam: Buying low-quality links doesn’t just fail to help; it can trigger spam filters that neutralize your site’s authority.
- Earn “Votes”: The best way to “increase PageRank” is still to create content that other authoritative sites want to reference.
Related: Internal Linking Dos and Don’ts: What to Avoid and What to Focus On
The Power of Links: How Internal and External Links Boost SEO
How to Leverage Broken Link Building to Get High-Quality Backlinks for Your Website
Should You Buy High DA Backlinks? The Truth Behind Backlinks and What Really Moves the SEO Needle
What is the best strategy to get high-quality SEO backlinks?
10 Top Ways to Build Quality Backlinks
Fun Fact: PageRank wasn’t named after “web pages.” It was actually named after Larry Page, one of Google’s co-founders, who developed the original formula at Stanford.