PageRank is the algorithm that made Google. Named after co-founder Larry Page, it scores how important a web page is based on the links pointing to it, treating each link as a kind of vote. A link from a trusted, popular page counts for far more than one from an obscure site, and a page that earns many strong links becomes more likely to rank.
Is PageRank still used?
Yes, although not in the way most people remember. Google retired the public PageRank toolbar score years ago, so you can no longer see a number from 0 to 10 for your site. The signal itself, however, is still very much alive inside Google’s ranking systems, confirmed both in the 2024 Google documentation leak and in sworn testimony during the US antitrust trial. Links remain one of the strongest signals in how SEO works.
Why it matters for your business
PageRank is content-agnostic: it does not read your page, it measures the trust flowing to it through links. That is why a genuinely useful site with few links can struggle, while a well-linked competitor ranks with ease. It is also why earning authoritative, relevant links is such a central part of any serious SEO campaign, and why the relevance and quality of a link is what counts, because Google simply ignores the links it does not trust.
The practical takeaway: create things worth linking to, earn links from real, relevant Irish and industry sources, and use internal links to pass authority to the pages you most want to rank. If you want to know where your site stands today, our free SEO audit includes a look at your link profile. You can read Google’s own overview of how Search works for the official picture.
