Web page authority

Web page authority

Web page authority -  The authority of a Web page in search engine optimization is the extent to which Links on that page confer authority and search engine positioning advantages on other pages. Authority is not necessarily related to the content of the pages. It is can be a function of the number of pages that link to that page, the size and authority of the Web site at which the page is located, the age of page and of the Web site, and, if search engine companies so decide, authority can be boosted arbitrarily because of commercial considerations. 

The only search engine company that presently publicizes such information is Google. The public portion of Google's algorithm indicates that Google PageRank determines authority conferred by each link from a page based on the authority of that page divided by the number of links on the page. Other factors such as age of the site or page are taken into account, but Google does not publicize these factors. Google claims that its algorithm does not include any commercially influenced factors in its PageRank or positioning decisions - they are the result of operation of the algorithm. 

Calculation of "authority" is an engineering solution, that is always based on approximate assumptions, no matter what algorithm is used. Google and other search engines generally give higher weight or "authority" to larger and older Web sites. Big and old does not guarantee better information. There is no way for a search engine spider, without human intervention, to determine that the "big  old" Web site, that may have also accumulated a great many links to pages on different topics is not completely out of date or maliciously misleading. An email hoax letter can be published at a Web site and accumulate thousands of links, so that it becomes the first ranked page for a keyword. Even an authority system that used human editors would be necessarily imperfect, and would in the best case, reflect the state of knowledge at the time the ratings of the editors were made.

Web page authority should not be confused with Technorati.com Web log authority, which is based on number of Web logs linking to a particular Web log within the last six months.

Note - Definitions of Search Engine Optimization terms are based on inferences from common usage and definitions given by other sources. Conclusions about search engine behavior are based on understanding of the behavior of the most popular search engines. Both are subject to error or may change. Search engine company management may define or use a term or set or change any policy in any way they see fit, and may make these definitions and specifications public or not. These decisions and definitions are beyond our control.  

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