* Is pagerank diluted as you add more content to your website?
Nope. It's just distributed to more pages via internal links, so the PR of your deeply buried pages which didn't attract external inbounds may fall slightly. OTOH since PR is shared by all pages on the Web, every new page added to your site gains you PR. That's the theory, in the real world new content should result in new inbounds, so adding linkworthy content is a good precedure to gain PR.
* Is pagerank diluted as Google adds more filetypes to the index?
Not really. Adding a cpl billion resources to the index does indeed change the PR of all other pages, but because PR is somewhat relative, that does neither change the toolbar pixels nor the weight assigned to other pages when it comes to rankings or crawling.
* Can issues with numerical accuracy result in "chaotic" pagerank fluctuations?
I'm not Daniel Brandt so I can't tell you exactly how Google computes or stores PR values, but I bet that wouldn't happen.
> So who's going to mirror this discussion in their blog so that we can > link to it? :-)
> Great stuff, guys.
> Is pagerank diluted as you add more content to your website? > Is pagerank diluted as Google adds more filetypes to the index? > Can issues with numerical accuracy result in "chaotic" pagerank > fluctuations?
John you may be on to something here. If PR is an integer then the random fluctuations would not occur or at the very least be rare. If PR is a real number between 1 and 10 then page rank is infinite. However as I understand this PR is not used to determine SERP position. Or, is it that PR is primarily used to determine crawl frequency but is also a factor in determining relevance and this combined with other factors causes the Google uncertainty principal.
> So who's going to mirror this discussion in their blog so that we can > link to it? :-)
> Great stuff, guys.
> Is pagerank diluted as you add more content to your website? > Is pagerank diluted as Google adds more filetypes to the index? > Can issues with numerical accuracy result in "chaotic" pagerank > fluctuations?
I suppose another way of putting the question is 'what is the number of attractors' in the PageRank space-time continuum... Stability does not mean necessarily fixed, constant values, can mean oscillation around/towards an equilibrium value, and the equilibrium point itself could shift according to the reference system. I know.. it does not make sense.
> John you may be on to something here. If PR is an integer then the > random fluctuations would not occur or at the very least be rare. If > PR is a real number between 1 and 10 then page rank is infinite. > However as I understand this PR is not used to determine SERP > position. Or, is it that PR is primarily used to determine crawl > frequency but is also a factor in determining relevance and this > combined with other factors causes the Google uncertainty principal.
> On Feb 15, 5:35 pm, softplus wrote:
> > So who's going to mirror this discussion in their blog so that we can > > link to it? :-)
> > Great stuff, guys.
> > Is pagerank diluted as you add more content to your website? > > Is pagerank diluted as Google adds more filetypes to the index? > > Can issues with numerical accuracy result in "chaotic" pagerank > > fluctuations?
> John you may be on to something here. If PR is an integer then the > random fluctuations would not occur or at the very least be rare. If > PR is a real number between 1 and 10 then page rank is infinite. > However as I understand this PR is not used to determine SERP > position. Or, is it that PR is primarily used to determine crawl > frequency but is also a factor in determining relevance and this > combined with other factors causes the Google uncertainty principal.
> On Feb 15, 5:35 pm, softplus wrote:
> > So who's going to mirror this discussion in their blog so that we can > > link to it? :-)
> > Great stuff, guys.
> > Is pagerank diluted as you add more content to your website? > > Is pagerank diluted as Google adds more filetypes to the index? > > Can issues with numerical accuracy result in "chaotic" pagerank > > fluctuations?
> PR is not an integer. Toolbar-PR is just an never up to date > simplification for visualization purposes. > Sebastian
> On Feb 16, 3:03 pm, wreilly wrote:
> > John you may be on to something here. If PR is an integer then the > > random fluctuations would not occur or at the very least be rare. If > > PR is a real number between 1 and 10 then page rank is infinite. > > However as I understand this PR is not used to determine SERP > > position. Or, is it that PR is primarily used to determine crawl > > frequency but is also a factor in determining relevance and this > > combined with other factors causes the Google uncertainty principal.
> > On Feb 15, 5:35 pm, softplus wrote:
> > > So who's going to mirror this discussion in their blog so that we can > > > link to it? :-)
> > > Great stuff, guys.
> > > Is pagerank diluted as you add more content to your website? > > > Is pagerank diluted as Google adds more filetypes to the index? > > > Can issues with numerical accuracy result in "chaotic" pagerank > > > fluctuations?
PageRank tells how important (popular) a page is. Sophisticated text-matching techniques figure out how relevant a page in the search query's context is. Both, spiced with some secret sauce, tells the query engine how to number the results.
> So, Google combines PageRank with sophisticated text-matching > techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to your > search.
> This indicates that PR is tied to relevancy.
> On Feb 16, 8:58 am, Sebastian wrote:
> > PR is not an integer. Toolbar-PR is just an never up to date > > simplification for visualization purposes. > > Sebastian
> > On Feb 16, 3:03 pm, wreilly wrote:
> > > John you may be on to something here. If PR is an integer then the > > > random fluctuations would not occur or at the very least be rare. If > > > PR is a real number between 1 and 10 then page rank is infinite. > > > However as I understand this PR is not used to determine SERP > > > position. Or, is it that PR is primarily used to determine crawl > > > frequency but is also a factor in determining relevance and this > > > combined with other factors causes the Google uncertainty principal.
> > > On Feb 15, 5:35 pm, softplus wrote:
> > > > So who's going to mirror this discussion in their blog so that we can > > > > link to it? :-)
> > > > Great stuff, guys.
> > > > Is pagerank diluted as you add more content to your website? > > > > Is pagerank diluted as Google adds more filetypes to the index? > > > > Can issues with numerical accuracy result in "chaotic" pagerank > > > > fluctuations?
> PageRank tells how important (popular) a page is. > Sophisticated text-matching techniques figure out how relevant a page > in the search query's context is. > Both, spiced with some secret sauce, tells the query engine how to > number the results.
> Sebastian
> On Feb 16, 5:16 pm, wreilly wrote:
> > Ok so is any of this still applicable or has PR morphed into something > > completely different:
> > So, Google combines PageRank with sophisticated text-matching > > techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to your > > search.
> > This indicates that PR is tied to relevancy.
> > On Feb 16, 8:58 am, Sebastian wrote:
> > > PR is not an integer. Toolbar-PR is just an never up to date > > > simplification for visualization purposes. > > > Sebastian
> > > On Feb 16, 3:03 pm, wreilly wrote:
> > > > John you may be on to something here. If PR is an integer then the > > > > random fluctuations would not occur or at the very least be rare. If > > > > PR is a real number between 1 and 10 then page rank is infinite. > > > > However as I understand this PR is not used to determine SERP > > > > position. Or, is it that PR is primarily used to determine crawl > > > > frequency but is also a factor in determining relevance and this > > > > combined with other factors causes the Google uncertainty principal.
> > > > On Feb 15, 5:35 pm, softplus wrote:
> > > > > So who's going to mirror this discussion in their blog so that we can > > > > > link to it? :-)
> > > > > Great stuff, guys.
> > > > > Is pagerank diluted as you add more content to your website? > > > > > Is pagerank diluted as Google adds more filetypes to the index? > > > > > Can issues with numerical accuracy result in "chaotic" pagerank > > > > > fluctuations?
In the little time I have spent on this, it appears to me as though PR has little or no effect on relevancy, and this is in direct conflict with the above.
I think we ( you guys actually ) have established the following:
Page rank does not suffer as a result of external links, using nofollow to horde PR is evil and since external links don't transport internal PR outside, PR is finite to the extent that it dilutes internally but infinite in the sense that it isn't siphoned off by using external links. Nofollow should be used when you want to link to an outside source but may not be ready to endow it with your official blessing as a quality site.
> PageRank tells how important (popular) a page is. > Sophisticated text-matching techniques figure out how relevant a page > in the search query's context is. > Both, spiced with some secret sauce, tells the query engine how to > number the results.
> Sebastian
> On Feb 16, 5:16 pm, wreilly wrote:
> > Ok so is any of this still applicable or has PR morphed into something > > completely different:
> > So, Google combines PageRank with sophisticated text-matching > > techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to your > > search.
> > This indicates that PR is tied to relevancy.
> > On Feb 16, 8:58 am, Sebastian wrote:
> > > PR is not an integer. Toolbar-PR is just an never up to date > > > simplification for visualization purposes. > > > Sebastian
> > > On Feb 16, 3:03 pm, wreilly wrote:
> > > > John you may be on to something here. If PR is an integer then the > > > > random fluctuations would not occur or at the very least be rare. If > > > > PR is a real number between 1 and 10 then page rank is infinite. > > > > However as I understand this PR is not used to determine SERP > > > > position. Or, is it that PR is primarily used to determine crawl > > > > frequency but is also a factor in determining relevance and this > > > > combined with other factors causes the Google uncertainty principal.
> > > > On Feb 15, 5:35 pm, softplus wrote:
> > > > > So who's going to mirror this discussion in their blog so that we can > > > > > link to it? :-)
> > > > > Great stuff, guys.
> > > > > Is pagerank diluted as you add more content to your website? > > > > > Is pagerank diluted as Google adds more filetypes to the index? > > > > > Can issues with numerical accuracy result in "chaotic" pagerank > > > > > fluctuations?
