PageRank

The main idea is the use of hyperlinks as building blocks of an information retrieval sytem.

Starting from Garfield’s idea:
„A cited document is more likely related to the content of the citing one  that any noncited document“
... to Sergey Brin & Lawrence Page’s idea
„A linked web page is more likely related to the content of the linking one  that any nonlinked page

“PageRank  does not simply count link rates but assigns different prestige scores to individual pages according to their position in the overall network.

Hyperlinks, like citations, confer some authority or prestige, therefore we are speaking about a prestige metric.

An algorithm  was devised for the automatic capture of Web „authorities“ and „hubs“:

• Web authority: a page receiving many links from quality „hubs“ (equivalent of a citation classic)

• Quality hub: a page providing many links to „authorities“ (equivalent of a review paper)