How does the Google Algorithm work?

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

• 
  Ioannis Anastasiou: Hello,
  
  I am new at SEO and i have one question about the way google algorithm works.
  In case that website A has a ranking 4, while website B has a ranking 2,
  will the link from website B to A actually have a negative effect to A ; and the opposite ?
  Will a link from many websites type B to only one website type A have any positive effect to the latter site ?
  Thank you in advance
• 
  ????: think that it does not.
• 
  Jim Munro: I am not an expert but I'm going to take your question seriously, +Ioannis Anastasiou ;:) It's not really something either of us should be spending time on though. Consider that PR is just one factor in hundreds.
  
  It's not possible to produce a negative effect but it is possible to add an  ;incremental increase to a recipient page. Remember that it's PageRank not Site Rank. If you link to the homepage you are not affecting other site pages except that PR is subsequently distributed from the homepage to site pages. You cannot save PR, only spend it.
  
  Many pages of lower PR will incrementally increase a page of higher PR. I don't think anybody would know exactly how many but it's really not something worth spending any time considering it because it's impacts are generally inconsequential.
• 
  Ioannis Anastasiou: Thanks +Jim Munro . So according to the 2nd paragraph of your anwer, there will be no negative effect to the A webisite's webpages.
• 
  Ioannis Anastasiou: Thanks also +山本高廣 for your reply
• 
  ????: Thank you +Jim Munro san!
• 
  Jim Munro: Again I am not an expert, +Ioannis Anastasiou, but I don't think it is  ;possible to reduce PR, only increase it but note that PageRank flows from one page to another. It's not SiteRank, the page, not the website is affected. ;
• 
  Edwin Jonk: From the expert panel in this weeks SEO Questions hangout on air on 01:32:10 into the YouTube video: https://dumbseoquestions.com/q/how_does_the_google_algorithm_work +Ioannis Anastasiou
  
  The cuetimes listed on this page are functional while the live broadcast continues and also once Youtube has finished processing the public broadcast. Processing time varies between 6-24 hours. During this period the clip is viewable in full but the cuetimes cannot be relied on.
  
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• 
  Edwin Jonk: I agree with Jim in the sense that when you look at the original paper about PageRank one cannot get a lower PageRank. However these days PageRank is more sophisticated, Google has specific algo's that target "spammy" incoming links like Penguin and your PageRank can be lowered because of a manual penalty. ;
• 
  Ioannis Anastasiou: Thanks +Edwin Jonk ;I wonder how long there will be ;a game ;of cat and mouse between google and SEO for the page rank ;algorithm