{"id":8604,"date":"2026-01-29T00:55:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T08:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/?p=8604"},"modified":"2026-04-20T02:59:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T09:59:22","slug":"does-google-still-use-pagerank-to-rate-your-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/8604\/does-google-still-use-pagerank-to-rate-your-website\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Google still use PageRank to rate your website?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/google-pagerank-toolbar-internal-use-ranking-800x1200.jpg\" alt=\"Google PageRank toolbar vs internal use for ranking websites\" class=\"wp-image-8607\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/google-pagerank-toolbar-internal-use-ranking-800x1200.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/google-pagerank-toolbar-internal-use-ranking-333x500.jpg 333w, https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/google-pagerank-toolbar-internal-use-ranking-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/google-pagerank-toolbar-internal-use-ranking-100x150.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/google-pagerank-toolbar-internal-use-ranking-533x800.jpg 533w, https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/google-pagerank-toolbar-internal-use-ranking.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, (max-width: 1200px) 75vw, 1200px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/ask-david\">&#8220;Ask David&#8221;<\/a> short answer: <strong>yes<\/strong>. While you can\u2019t see it anymore, PageRank is still a &#8220;core&#8221; part of how Google determines which websites are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/?s=trustworthy\">trustworthy<\/a> and important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/6337\/what-makes-a-simple-website-feel-trustworthy-from-real-user-experience-not-theory\/\">What Makes a Simple Website Feel Trustworthy? (From Real User Experience, Not Theory)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the PageRank of today is very different from the simple &#8220;0 to 10&#8221; score people obsessed over in the early 2000s.<sup><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How PageRank Works in 2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>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 <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/?s=authority\">authority<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/6185\/how-to-increase-website-domain-authority-fast\/\">How to Increase Website Domain Authority Fast?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/5470\/what-is-the-difference-between-brand-authority-and-domain-authority\/\">What is the difference between brand authority and domain authority?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>1. It is no longer public<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Google retired the public &#8220;PageRank Toolbar&#8221; in 2016. If a website claims to show you your &#8220;Official Google PageRank,&#8221; they are usually using a proxy metric (like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/?s=moz\">Moz&#8217;s Domain Authority<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/?s=ahref\">Ahrefs&#8217; Domain Rating<\/a>) rather than Google\u2019s internal data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/4720\/moz-domain-authority-vs-search-console-insights-best-to-measure-seo\/\">Moz Domain Authority vs. Search Console Insights \u2013 Best to Measure SEO?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/4714\/cracking-the-code-understanding-mozs-domain-analysis-results\/\">Cracking the Code: Understanding Moz\u2019s Domain Analysis Results<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/6954\/how-relevant-is-the-ahrefs-health-score-what-actually-matters-for-seo\/\">How Relevant Is the Ahrefs Health Score? What Actually Matters for SEO<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/5587\/think-twice-before-using-ahrefs-new-web-analytics-are-you-giving-away-too-much\/\">Think Twice Before Using Ahrefs\u2019 New Web Analytics: Are You Giving Away Too Much?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/7383\/how-to-check-how-your-web-page-or-blog-post-is-ranking-in-google\/\">How to Check How Your Web Page or Blog Post is Ranking in Google<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>2. Focus on Quality over Quantity<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Originally, the more links you had, the better.<sup><\/sup> Now, Google uses a &#8220;Reasonable Surfer&#8221; model.<sup><\/sup> It asks: <em>How likely is a real human to click this link?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>High Value:<\/strong> A link in the middle of a high-traffic, relevant article.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Low Value:<\/strong> A link buried in a footer, a sidebar, or on a page that has nothing to do with your topic.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>3. It\u2019s part of E-E-A-T<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>PageRank now feeds into Google\u2019s broader <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/?s=e-e-a-t\">E-E-A-T<\/a><\/strong> framework (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness). Google uses link patterns to decide if your site is an &#8220;authority&#8221; in a specific niche.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/5567\/how-to-build-a-website-that-ranks-and-converts-with-e-e-a-t\/\">How to Build a Website That Ranks and Converts with E-E-A-T<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/7809\/google-algorithm-penalties-explained-what-they-are-why-they-happen-and-how-to-recover\/\">Google Algorithm Penalties Explained: What They Are, Why They Happen, and How to Recover<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>4. Internal &#8220;Seed Sets&#8221;<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Internal leaks and patents suggest Google now uses a &#8220;Seed Set&#8221; of highly trusted sites (like the <em>New York Times<\/em> or <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/?s=wikipedia\">Wikipedia<\/a><\/em>). The closer your site is to these &#8220;seeds&#8221; in terms of link distance, the more &#8220;trusted&#8221; your PageRank becomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/6867\/how-well-known-do-you-need-to-be-to-get-a-wikipedia-page-and-not-have-it-removed\/\">How well-known do you need to be to get a Wikipedia Page (and not have it removed)?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How this matters for you<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are managing a website, you don&#8217;t need to &#8220;calculate&#8221; PageRank, but you should follow its core principles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/?s=internal+linking\">Internal Linking<\/a>:<\/strong> Use links to guide Google to your most important pages. A page with no internal links (an &#8220;orphan page&#8221;) will have a PageRank of nearly zero.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Avoid Link Spam:<\/strong> Buying low-quality links doesn&#8217;t just fail to help; it can trigger spam filters that neutralize your site&#8217;s authority.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Earn &#8220;Votes&#8221;:<\/strong> The best way to &#8220;increase PageRank&#8221; is still to create content that other authoritative sites <em>want<\/em> to reference.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/5374\/internal-linking-dos-and-donts-what-to-avoid-and-what-to-focus-on\/\">Internal Linking Dos and Don\u2019ts: What to Avoid and What to Focus On<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/5371\/the-power-of-links-how-internal-and-external-links-boost-seo\/\">The Power of Links: How Internal and External Links Boost SEO<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/6194\/how-to-leverage-broken-link-building-to-get-high-quality-backlinks-for-your-website\/\">How to Leverage Broken Link Building to Get High-Quality Backlinks for Your Website<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/5917\/should-you-buy-high-da-backlinks-the-truth-behind-backlinks-and-what-really-moves-the-seo-needle\/\">Should You Buy High DA Backlinks? The Truth Behind Backlinks and What Really Moves the SEO Needle<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/5419\/what-is-the-best-strategy-for-seo-backlinks\/\">What is the best strategy to get high-quality SEO backlinks?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/5337\/10-top-ways-to-build-quality-backlinks\/\">10 Top Ways to Build Quality Backlinks<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Fun Fact:<\/strong> PageRank wasn&#8217;t named after &#8220;web pages.&#8221; It was actually named after <strong>Larry Page<\/strong>, one of Google&#8217;s co-founders, who developed the original formula at Stanford.<sup><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ready to design &amp; build your own awesome website? Learn more about&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/\">UltimateWB<\/a>! We also offer&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/web-design-packages\">web design packages<\/a>&nbsp;if you would like your website designed and built for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Got a techy\/website question? Whether it\u2019s about UltimateWB or another website builder, web hosting, or other aspects of websites, just send in your question in the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/ask-david\">\u201cAsk David!\u201d form<\/a>. We will email you when the answer is posted on the UltimateWB \u201cAsk David!\u201d section.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Ask David&#8221; short answer: yes. While you can\u2019t see it anymore, PageRank is still a &#8220;core&#8221; part of how Google determines which websites are trustworthy and important. Related: What Makes a Simple Website Feel Trustworthy? (From Real User Experience, Not &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/8604\/does-google-still-use-pagerank-to-rate-your-website\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1034,4],"tags":[6481,4436,2828,355,3774,3778,3652,82,3651,3650,14,6483,6480,1782,801,6055,6484,2650,4435,6486,4352,6482,6485,6487,5058,5544,4867],"class_list":["post-8604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask-david","category-search-engine-optimization-seo","tag-ahref","tag-ahrefs-domain-rating","tag-authority","tag-backlinks","tag-e-e-a-t","tag-experience","tag-expertise","tag-google","tag-google-algorithm","tag-google-pagerank","tag-google-ranking","tag-high-value-link","tag-important","tag-internal-linking","tag-larry-page","tag-link-spam","tag-low-value-link","tag-moz","tag-moz-domain-authority","tag-new-york-times","tag-pagerank","tag-reasonable-surfer","tag-seed-set","tag-stanford","tag-trustworthy","tag-useful","tag-wikipedia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8604"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8604"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8953,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8604\/revisions\/8953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}