How does google calculate PR?

mixed results

[designhaus]

How on earth does Google actually calculate your PR. It is definately more than just inbound links. Take 2 sites I own ... 1 has 2 inbound links and has a PR of 5 ... the other site has 10 inbound links with PR's of 5 and above. AND no matter what I do the second site has always had a OR of 4.

Any suggestions ...

[steveb]

It's just the PR quality of incoming links. One PR6 link will normally deliver more PR than 10 PR4 links. Nothing mysterious about it.

[designhaus]

ah after doing some tests now and writing down all the inbound links and their PR's and doing some comparisons I see now .... its an average that is dealt out to you.

thanks steveb

[Mohamed_E]

For those who have not seen them before, the two authoritative papers are:

The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine [www7.scu.edu.au] by Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page

and

The PageRank Citation Ranking: Bringing Order the the Web [citeseer.nj.nec.com] (PDF) by Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page

They were written some time ago, there is no warranty that the algorithm has not mutated since.

[glengara]

Nah, PR is toast, you need Topic Sensitive PR these days ;-)

[designhaus]

glengara .. I am interested you touch on this subject as this is really what I was asking in my original question except I didnt ask to accurateley. Do you feel that Google is giving weight to more topic related PR sites ... eg if a Spain site where to link to another Spain hotels website ... this would be more credible that a PR 9 gambling site based in Cape Town.

[sem4u]

I would take the PR9 anyday :)

[designhaus]

sem4u, if i had to choose nowadays after all these google updates I am not too sure. I think I may choose against the PR 9

[steveb]

"Do you feel that Google is giving weight to more topic related PR sites"

Don't confuse two issues. With PR, topic is 100% irrelevant. With search enging ranking position, a link from a topical PR5 site could well be better than a off-topic PR7.

However, the bottom line is it is completely irrelvant. Get the PR5 link get the PR7 link. Links from quality domains are good. It's not either/or, except if someone offers you a choice of links, then you might make a decision based on different criteria.

[Calum]

Steveb - sure, why choose if you don't have to.

Here's one for you then: If you are about to start a targeted links exchange program, would you
1. Start with same industry web pages (perhaps on a different continent), or would
2. Start with a general list of similar PR?

[steveb]

"If you are about to start a targeted links exchange program..."

I'd hurl myself off a cliff.

But in theory...
Best PR on the best sites in the niche. Start at the top of the Google Directory and work your way down.