Google PageRank

Ever wondered how the search giant finds the best matches for what you are looking on the web? You might be knowing that it uses some sort of page ranking algorithm to rank content on the web, and finds you the highest ranked content that matches your search. But a little peek into the details of the algorithm would make you think how an idea could be so original and successful, although everything about it seems obvious after its proposed.

Google uses the PageRank algorithm, developed by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998, to calculate the importance of pages on the web. The central idea of the algorithm is the fact that the number of pages that link to a particular page is in direct proportion to the conceived importance or rank of the page. Seems obvious, doesn't it? :)

Read this for a little more detail about the algorithm. The mathematical ideas are quite lucidly explained. If you do not want to go through the maths part, you can skip them happily; the ideas underlying the maths are discussed clearly and one is sure to understand the idea well.

Checkpagerank gives you an approximation of the PageRank of a URL, on a scale of 0-10, 10 being the highest. Type in a URL and have some fun.
Its pretty obvious which URL has a PageRank of 10. :)
Unfortunately, the present blog has a PageRank of zero. Folks, its time to unite and fight for a cause : link to my blog as much as you can !!!