Vertex similarity in networks
  We consider methods for quantifying the similarity of vertices in networks. We propose a measure of similarity based on the concept that two vertices are similar if their immediate neighbors in the network are themselves similar. This leads to a self-consistent matrix formulation of similarity that can be evaluated iteratively using only a knowledge of the adjacency matrix of the network. We test our similarity measure on computer-generated networks for which the expected results are known, and on a number of real-world networks. 
E. A. Leicht, Petter Holme, M. E. J. Newman