What is reasonable-surfer weighting?
By default, Inrank uses the random surfer model: every internal link has the same weight of 1.0 during Inrank computation.
Enable Use reasonable-surfer weighting to simulate a reasonable surfer model instead. This assigns a relative weight to each internal follow link according to its position on the page.
Before you begin
Reasonable-surfer weighting relies on the Link position settings. For reliable results, make sure the positions assigned to links accurately reflect your website templates.
By default, Oncrawl identifies the following zones using common HTML tags:
Link position | Default selector |
Header |
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Footer |
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Navigation |
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Aside |
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Main | Any link that does not match one of the zones above |
You can customize Header, Footer, Navigation, and Aside with CSS selectors. Oncrawl uses the closest matching ancestor to assign a position to each link. If multiple selectors match the same element, the first matching selector in the list is used.
Enable zone-based weighting
In Crawl settings, open Link position settings and review the default zones or add CSS selectors that match your templates.
Open Inrank settings.
Select Use reasonable-surfer weighting.
Review the recommended weights, or enter your own values.
Save the crawl configuration and launch the crawl.
Oncrawl recommended defaults
Link position | Inrank weight | Example share |
Main | 1.0 | 32% |
Header | 0.8 | 25% |
Navigation | 0.65 | 21% |
Aside | 0.45 | 14% |
Footer | 0.25 | 8% |
The example share assumes one internal follow link in each position. The actual distribution depends on all internal follow links found on the page.
How weights are applied
Weights are relative, not absolute. On each page, Oncrawl compares the weights of all internal follow links and normalizes the available Inrank flow across them.
For example, if a page contains one Main link weighted 2.0 and one Header link weighted 1.0, the Main link receives about 67% of the page's Inrank flow and the Header link receives about 33%.
Changing every weight by the same factor does not change the distribution. What matters is the ratio between weights.
When to customize the defaults
Start with the recommended values when your Link position setup reliably identifies the main content and recurring template areas. Adjust the weights when your site architecture or templates require a different interpretation of link prominence.
For example, you might lower the weight of a navigation area that contains many repeated links, or increase the weight of a prominent, editorial link area that is classified as Aside.
These defaults are Oncrawl recommendations inspired by the reasonable surfer model. They reflect common SEO assumptions about link prominence, not a reverse-engineered Google formula.
What this affects
Zone-based weighting changes how Inrank is distributed through internal follow links. It does not change URL discovery during the crawl.
If you disable Use reasonable-surfer weighting, all internal links return to the default weight of 1.0 during Inrank computation.