The PageRank algorithm is one used for link analysis. Within a set of hyperlinked documents, like the World Wide Web, its purpose is to weigh each document’s importance by assigning to it a numerical value. The application of the algorithm can be extended to any set of things linked reciprocally, by quotes or references. It is used as the basis for all of Google’s web search tools, but only partly contributes to the ranking of a page in the Google search engine’s list of results.
The part owner of Google Larry Page created PageRank at Stanford University in 1998, and its name is derived from his. The process for the algorithm was patented, and the name is a trademark of Google. Because the patent is actually assigned to Stanford University, Google had to exchange 1.8 million of its shares for the exclusive license rights.
The algorithm works by assigning importance to a page, a rank value, which is a function of the rank values of all the pages that link to it. A page that is linked to by a lot of pages with high PageRank, itself has a high PageRank. Essentially the algorithm is a probability distribution that represents how likely it is that a person who is randomly clicking on links, will arrive at a certain page.
Since the birth of PageRank, academics have drawn to attention the fact that the ranking system is vulnerable to manipulation. Much research has been done with the aim of identifying and ignoring pages with falsely inflated PageRank values. Some companies sell links with high PageRank values to webmasters. Google has warned webmasters publically that if such activity is discovered, they will have their links ignored in the calculation of PageRank values.
Other areas of thought and analysis have benefited from PageRank, some of which are ecology, ranking the importance of certain animals to the flourishing of an environment; and such computational linguistics issues as word sense disambiguation. Although it was only developed a few decades ago, PageRank’s relevance to our modes of analysis in is growing.
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