PageRank

PageRank is a trademarked concept of assigning numerical values to all pages listed in a search engine. The PageRank of a page is defined recursively and depends on the number and PageRanks of all pages that link to it. A page that is linked by many pages with high rank receives a high rank itself.

The formula uses a model of a "random surfer" who gets bored after several clicks and switches to a random page. The PageRank value of a page reflects the frequency of hits on that page by a "random surfer".

The PageRank system is used by Google and was developed by Google's founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin while at Stanford University.