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?
Google Will Choose a Duplicate Page with the Shortest URL
URL paths doesn’t affect PageRank. However if there are 2 pages which are a duplicate, they will prefer the shorter URL.
Many to One 302 Redirects Will Be Treated as 404
URLs which are 302 to the home page on any large scale will probably be treated like a 404 and dropped from the index, and pagerank won’t be passed.
Multiple Redirects Doesn’t Lose PageRank
Whilst describing how 301 and 302s are indexed, John seems to suggest that a redirect chain doesn’t pass less PageRank than a single redirect.
HTTPS Migrations Won’t Lose Pagerank
No PageRank is lost when you redirect a domain from HTTP to HTTPS.
PageRank to 404 Pages is Lost
If a site links to an external page which returns a 404, the PageRank will be lost.
If 302s are treated like 301s eventually, will they pass PageRank?
302 redirects will pass PageRank anyway, so yes.
Disallow prevents PageRank from being passed
PageRank can be inherited by a disallowed URL but can’t be passed on.
Unlinked URLs Don’t Count as Links
Unlinked domains and URLs within body text don’t have any ranking benefits. if something isn’t linked, it won’t count towards PageRank.
Noindex Pages Can’t Accumulate PageRank
Noindex pages can’t accumulate pagerank for the site, even though the pages can be crawled. So this isn’t an advantage over disallowing.
Click Depth Will Affect PageRank
The higher the number of clicks from the home page (crawl depth), the lower the pagerank and crawl rate which could affect rankings.