Table of Contents
Understanding how SEO works:
1. Crawling
The process begins with crawling, where search engines use bots to scan the web for new and updated content. Once a page is discovered, it is stored in an index, a vast database that organizes and catalogs the content, it should be noted that not all pages that Google processes are indexed.
The crawling of a website by search engines depends on several factors
Rendering: During crawling, Google renders the page and executes the JavaScript code it finds using a recent version of Chrome, similar to the way your browser renders the pages you visit. Rendering is important because websites often use JavaScript to add content to the page, so Google may not detect it if it is not rendered.
Sitemap: When you submit a sitemap to Google through Google Search Console or other tools, you are providing Google with a detailed map of your website structure and the URLs you want to be crawled. When Google receives a sitemap, it uses the information provided to discover and crawl new pages more efficiently.
Robots.txt: This file is a directive that website owners can use to tell search engines which parts of their website they can crawl and index, and which parts they cannot.
Crawl meta tags: Special meta tags, such as <meta name=”robots” content=”index, follow”>, can be used to tell search engines whether a page should be crawled and whether links on that page should be followed.
2. Indexing
After crawling a page, Google tries to interpret its content. This phase is called “indexing” and includes processing and analyzing text content, as well as tags, title, alt attributes, images, videos and more.
When Google indexes a web page, it evaluates a number of factors to determine how it should be indexed and how it relates to other similar pages. Some of the key factors Google considers during the indexing process include:
Duplicate Content – Google seeks to avoid indexing duplicate content in order to provide more varied and relevant search results. If it finds duplicate content on multiple web pages, it may choose to index only one of them or, in some cases, ignore all duplicate versions.
Canonical tag (rel=”canonical”): The canonical tag is an HTML element to tell Google which version of a web page is preferred when multiple similar versions exist. Google will consider the canonical tag when determining which version of the page should be indexed and displayed in search results.
Content Quality and Relevance: Google evaluates the quality and relevance of a page’s content when deciding whether it should be indexed and how it should rank in search results. Useful, original and relevant content is more likely to be indexed.
User Experience: Google also considers user experience when indexing web pages. Factors such as loading speed, ease of navigation and mobile compatibility can influence the decision to index a page.
Inbound Links and Site Authority: Inbound links from other relevant and authoritative websites can increase the authority and relevance of a page, which can influence its indexing and ranking in search results.
3. Publishing Results
After processing and indexing a page, the search engine stores it in its index, a huge database containing information about all the web pages it has found and analyzed. This indexing allows search engines to respond quickly to search queries and provide relevant results to users.
The system takes into account hundreds of factors, such as location, language and the user’s device (computer or phone). For example, if a user from Australia makes a query, they will get different results than users from Hong Kong making the same query.
When a user performs a search, the search engine uses sophisticated algorithms to interpret the intent behind the query and find the most relevant results. These algorithms take into account a variety of factors, such as content relevance, site quality and page authority.
By taking advantage of the fundamental principles outlined by Google and staying on top of trends and updates in the SEO world, you can improve the visibility and performance of your websites in search engines, which in turn can lead to greater online success.
