Google PageRank vs. Link Popularity

Link Popularity Defined

Link Popularity is a generic term that refers to the number of links from other web pages, pointing to a specific web page on your site, such as your home page. The exact way in which the various search engines calculate Link Popularity is not known as it is propriety information - and they can of course change it at will to improve the quality of their search results.

During the past few years we have seen more and more search engines implementing Link Popularity as a measure to determine whether a web page has quality content or not. It is assumed that if you have quality content on your web site, then other web pages will link to you. The flip side is also assumed: if you do not have quality content then no other sites will link to you. Some search engines will actually not index your web site if there is not at least one relevant link to your web site.

Mainstream search engines will not only consider the number of links to your web site, but also the quality of the links and assign a value to the incoming link. If you have a web page promoting Cosmetic Dentistry in Chicago, then a link from a web site that deals with either "Chicago" or "Cosmetic Dentistry" will have a much higher value than a link form a site dealing with ways to make money or selling diet supplements.

Link Popularity vs. PageRank™

PageRank™ is a Google trademark and patent which refers to Google's way of interpreting links in order to assign an importance level (PageRank) to pages prior to ranking pages in search results.

For more information, see "What is PageRank™"