PageRank

The random surfer

An interactive lesson with 7 steps, about 6 minutes: you predict, drag and solve, with instant feedback on every answer. It runs in your browser and needs JavaScript.

What you’ll learn

• PageRank = stationary distribution of a random surfer.
• Links from high-ranked pages with few links are worth most.
• Random jumps (damping) make the chain irreducible: unique ranks.

Steps

1. Ranking the web
2. A web of five pages
3. The random surfer
4. Get a good link
5. A page nobody links to
6. Why jump at all?
7. Link farms