Page Rank is Google's secret formula for ranking a web page's "importance" or relevancy for a key word search. Page rank scores from 0 to 10, with 10 being the most important. Google uses secret algorithms based on popularity (how many other web pages link to your web page,) and reputation (what these other web pages say about your web page.) Other factors play a role in Google's formula (key word density, anchor text of links, content, etc) and no one really knows their exact formula.

If a lot of other web sites and web pages link to your site, your site is probably popular (maybe for the wrong reasons:), and if the sites speak favorably of your web page, you may become an authority figure on your topic. Theoretically, if a lot of high PR sites link to your site, this is even better. The goal then becomes to have a high PR value for the right reasons. (a PR of 3 to 4 is fairly easy to obtain, 5, 6, 7 etc become exponentially harder to achieve.) (see picture of Google's page rank bar that you can download that shows web pages page rank.)

My wife and I were joking the other day how the geniuses at Google basically replicated a social scoring system for web pages that we've used in "real life" since time began. Think about it. Someone in high school may have been popular (known by many,) either for the "right" or "wrong" reasons. Also, many people have great reputations even if it's among a smaller number of people. Those kids in high school who were very popular and had great reputation were probably well-respected and on their way to becoming successful members of society. Kids with little popularity or reputation were normally quiet and kept to themselves.

So Marnie and I started wondering what our "personal page ranks" are. They've probably gone up a little and down a little over the years. For instance, when we were running a small business that was growing, employing quite a number of people, and providing a lot of services, our page rank was probably at its highest: we were known by many, and (hopefully) for the right reasons. Now that we're in a transitional time (we moved to Hawaii and sold our company two years ago,) we are probably at a lower personal page rank. No one knows us here, and we don't have a reputation at all yet. Back home it's different, but we were guessing that we're probably at page ranks of 2 or 3.

What's your page rank? Why should you care? I'm learning from sites like Hubpages, that a high personal page rank is vital, because it shows your social worth. Just like a web page ranked by Google. Are you relative? Do you have a good reputation? Are you known or respected by many?

Let's look at a few people (living and deceased) with high Personal Page Ranks for the right reason:

Oprah (PR 8), George Washington: (PR10), Ben Franklin: (PR10), Mother Teresa: (PR10), Ronald Reagan: (PR9), Einstein: (PR9)

You'd be happy for one of these people to "link to you" or befriend you. Look at what happens when Oprah promotes someone's book or has them on a show!

Now a few people with high Personal Page Ranks but for the wrong reasons:

Hitler, Stalin, Ted Bundy, The Unibomber, and any other infamous person who is very well known but for the wrong reasons. You wouldn't want one of these people linking to you (or befriending you.) These types of links are called links to or from "bad neighborhoods."

How about a celebrity with falling Personal Page Rank: Britney Spears. Last year she could do no wrong, and her PR is still high, but it's starting to fall!

Endorsements are like links- all the politicians are trying to get endorsements, which is the same as getting a great link from a high page rank site.

So in our new home, we're trying to start building strong, positive personal page rank. And we're also going to be repeating the process with our future business web sites. The effort pays off!

What's your Personal Page Rank?