Google PageRank
Google describes PageRank:
In general, the higher the Google PageRank of your website, the more traffic Google will send to your website.
"PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important""
In other words, a PageRank results from a "ballot" among all the other pages on the World Wide Web about how important a page is. A hyperlink to a page counts as a vote of support. The PageRank of a page is defined recursively and depends on the number and PageRank metric of all pages that link to it ("incoming links"). A page that is linked to by many pages with high PageRank receives a high rank itself. If there are no links to a web page there is no support for that page.
Google assigns a numeric weighting from 0-10 for each webpage on the Internet; this PageRank denotes a site’s importance in the eyes of Google. The PageRank is derived from a theoretical probability value on a logarithmic scale like the Richter Scale. The PageRank of a particular page is roughly based upon the quantity of inbound links as well as the PageRank of the pages providing the links. It is known that other factors, e.g. relevance of search words on the page and actual visits to the page reported by the Google toolbar also influence the PageRank.[citation needed] In order to prevent manipulation, spoofing and Spamdexing, Google provides no specific details about how other factors influence PageRank.
For example, Ameravant Web Design has a PageRank of 5/10. This is a very high PageRank. If Ameravant links to your website the link may improve the PageRank of your site. If a site that has a 1/10 PageRank links to your site, there may be no improvement in your PageRank. You can find more information about Google PageRank from Wikipedia.
You can download the FREE Google Toolbar, which has the PageRank indicator. PageRank will be calculated for each page you visit.