How the Google Search Algorithm Works: A Zero-Fluff Guide

What Is the Google Search Algorithm?

The Google Search algorithm is a complex system Google uses to decide how pages will rank in the search results.

The algorithm is believed to consider hundreds of factors.

Content relevance, quality, and the user experience (UX) are among the most important ones (more on each of these below).

How Does Google’s Search Algorithm Work?

The exact details of how the algorithm works aren’t public information. So, trying too hard to understand it completely likely isn’t worthwhile.

Instead, you’ll probably find it more useful to focus on:

• The broader ranking process
• The ranking factors that go into the algorithm

Google’s Ranking Process

Here’s a simple overview of what Google says about their process:

1. Google crawls pages. That means Google discovers the page exists (e.g., by following a link from a known page to a new page or reading a sitemap).
2. Google indexes pages. Google determines what the page is about and whether or not it is unique and high quality. Not every page will be indexed.
3. Indexed pages are then served to users when they conduct a search. This is where the search ranking algorithm comes in. Pages are ordered by which ones Google thinks are most relevant and helpful.

Further...