In information retrieval, PageRank is an algorithm developed by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while at Stanford University.[1]
The value for the PageRank of an Internet page varies from 0 to 1 on a logarithmic scale[2] PageRank is based on links to an Internet page. The links are considered votes. According to Google:[3]
An alternative is Kleinberg's Hyperlink-Induced Topic Search (HITS).[4][5]
Brin and Page published their article, "The anatomy of a large-scale hypertextual Web search engine", in 1998.[6] Their patent for PageRank was filed in 1998 and issued in 2001.[2]
PageRank is used by Google who owns its trademark which was filed and published in 2003.[7]