Matt Cutts: PageRank Not Popularity, Topical PageRank Helps & Authority On Subjects Coming

Apr 3, 2014 - 8:41 am 9 by

matt cutts of googleIn yesterday's video from Google's Matt Cutts, Matt summarized three topics that aren't necessarily new but often confused by folks in the webmaster and SEO community.

In short, he said:

(1) PageRank is not a measure of popularity
(2) Topical PageRank may help determine if a specific site is a good match for a specific query
(3) Google has algorithm changes they are working on to improve their understanding of who is an authority

Here is the video:

On PageRank not being a measure of authority, that makes sense to us but not all. Matt's example is key, porn sites are way more popular than government sites in terms of traffic and usage. But no one links to porn sites and thus their PageRank is not as high as government sites, which everyone links to.

On topical PageRank, that also makes a lot of sense and most SEOs get this. This is why anchor text was/is so important and likely more important than raw links. I won't go into this more, I am tired.

Finally, Matt mentioned again, Google is working on an algorithm for the authority in the space.

Forum discussion at Google+ & Twitter.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Follow

Search Video Recaps

 
Google Core Update Rumbling, Manual Actions FAQs, Core Web Vitals Updates, AI, Bing, Ads & More - YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: March 18, 2024

Mar 18, 2024 - 4:00 pm
Google Updates

Google Urges Patience As The March 2024 Core Update Continues To Rollout

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:51 am
Google

Official: Google Replaces Perspective Filter With Forums Filter

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:41 am
Google Maps

Google Business Profiles Now Offers Additional Review After Appeal Is Denied

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:31 am
Google Maps

EU Searchers Complaining About Google Maps Features Changes Related To DMA

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:21 am
Google

Google Showing Fewer Sitelinks Within Search

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:11 am
Previous Story: New Google+ App Notifications Are Annoying Users