How Do Search Engines & Algorithms Like Google Work?

Complete Search Engine Guide

Nowadays, everyone is looking for information through search engines. But do you know what a search engine is, how do search engines work, and their algorithms?

 

In this article, Meson will discuss the full topic of search engines.

 

Table of contents:

 

·        Understanding Search Engines

·        How Search Engines Work

·        Google Algorithm

·        5 Determinants of Google Search Results

·        SEO Determines Website Page Ranking

 

Understanding Search Engines

For most people, Google is the "internet"; when everyone searched for anything, they would search for it through Google.

 

In fact, with 3.5 billion searches made via Google every day, Google dominates the market share for search engines in the world at 92%.

 

Google is actually just one of many Search Engines or what is called a Search Engine. Other examples of search engines are Yahoo, Bing, Yandex, Duk-Duk Go, and others.

 

Without search engines, new content published by the website cannot be accessed by others.

 

Google itself is called one of the most important inventions since the creation of the internet.

 

However, do you know how search engines like Google work? Check out a brief explanation of how search engines work below.

 

How Search Engines Work

Reporting from the Make use of the site, each search engine or search engine has 3 main functions, namely crawling (to find content), indexing (to store and track content), and retrieval (to retrieve relevant content when someone asks a search engine).

 

Crawling

Crawling is the first stage in how search engines work; when a search engine acquires data from a website.

 

This stage includes scanning and collecting details of each page of the website, such as title, image, keywords, internal links, and so on. Each crawler (bot or "spider") collects different data.

 

Bots or spiders that visit every page on the website work very fast, even Google Spiders can read thousands of pages per second.

 

This crawler will also revisit pages on the website to see changes made to the website. Some pages can be marked with "no index", which is like giving a signal to bots not to index the page.

 

One reason to "no index" a page is to avoid duplicate content.

 

Examples of pages that usually need to be marked "no index" is the thank your page on the last page after the leads fill out the form/data and get an e-book or something else.

 

Pages that are not indexed by search engines are called the deep web.

 

Indexing

Indexing is the stage where the data that has been crawled is then processed and placed in the database.

 

Imagine if you have a lot of books, and you record all the data from the books you have; from the number of pages, author, genre, year published, and others.

 

Crawling is a process when you read all the data, while Indexing is when you make notes about all the data in the book.

 

Now imagine when you have a library of all the books in the world. That is what search engines mean and what Google is doing now, making notes about all the world content.

 

This is something like a picture from one of Google's Search Data Center:

 

Retrieval & Ranking

Retrieval is a process where search engines like Google process requests from questions, you usually type in Google search and provide pages from websites that are most relevant to your query.

 

Each search engine or search engine has its own algorithm or way of choosing which pages are most relevant to your query.

 

That's why Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines provide different results for each query. Every search engine company keeps their algorithms secret and the way they rank / rank web pages. The more relevant the results are, the better the algorithm will be.

 

Google Algorithm

Google Search is a technique used by Google to find the most relevant content in its database. How does the Google Search algorithm work so that it can sort and display relevant and quality search results at the top of the search index?

 

First, this search engine will sense web pages and surf the internet in an automated program to find all new information. The program then makes notes on the site, from the title to the text used.

 

This program also studies in detail the content of the site and who might be interested in finding the site. Simply put, Google's algorithms find new data, log about that data, and then store that information (with some accuracy) in a database.

 

Next, Google looks for the best way to match and display the information in the database. So that when you type a topic in the search field, the ranking system will instantly sort and display the most relevant search results.

 

The purpose of this search algorithm is, of course, to provide the best search experience for users and make it easier to find what they are looking for.

 

Please note that Google changes their algorithm all the time to improve search relevance and user experience.

 

5 Determinants of Google Search Results

 

Several factors are taken into account in knowing what to look for and where to go to get these search results. Here are 5 factors that determine a search result matches a query:

 

1. The meaning/intention of a query

Understanding what visitors are looking for is an important point that Google emphasizes to be able to display the best search results. Therefore, the first step is to analyze the query in the search column.

 

Google has a system that can understand every word that is tried to be searched, including the synonyms of the topic. The algorithm can also perform searches in multiple languages, including when misspellings occur.

 

Understand the search intent of your target users, especially when you are doing keyword research in running SEO.

 

2. The relevance of a webpages

After understanding what you want, Google will then search for pages that match the query. The 2020 algorithm reviews search topics in the index, then analyzes the frequency and location of keywords in the headers and text content on web pages.

 

Apart from matching these keywords, Google also has hidden interaction data that measures search results. The data is then converted into signals that help the machine learning system estimate its relevance.

 

For example, when typing the keyword dog. This search engine algorithm will analyze relevant pages, such as pictures, videos, and even lists of dog breeds. Apart from that, it will also suggest pages that match your preferred language.

 

3. Quality Content

There are thousands or even millions of pages on the internet with information that could potentially be relevant to a query. Therefore, the Google Search algorithm needs to evaluate the contents of the page. Does the page contain useful information, according to what you were looking for?

 

There are hundreds of different factors that are used to determine content quality. Some of them are recentness of content, the number of keywords, the number of words on one page, to reliable content information by searching for backlinks.

 

For example, if there is another reputable site discussing a similar topic then linking to your page. So, the information on your site is considered quality.

 

Google also has an up-to-date algorithm that can identify spammy sites and then delete them. The same is true for sites that violate Google's Webmaster guidelines.

 

4. Usability Of A Web Page

Before publishing search results, Google will evaluate all the information first. Some of them are the number of search results, the suitability of the topic, and the extent of the information on the web page. After all, are fulfilled, the ranking system will display the results.

 

In addition to site information, this search engine algorithm also considers page speed, a mobile-friendly display, and the appearance of the site when opened through another browser. To help site owners create more mobile-friendly pages and comply with Google's 2020 algorithm standards, this search engine provides Page Speed ​​Insights and Webpagetest.org features.

 

5. Context and Settings

Location, search history, and search settings also play a role in determining relevant search results. For example, you are currently in London and looking for information about "football". Google will display the highest rankings about football in New Zealand and the English Premier League.

 

Google also has a feature that personalizes search results based on the activity and interests in your account. This also applies to language settings and activation of Safe Search (a tool that helps filter explicit results). To turn off search personalization based on account activity, you can turn off the Web and App Activity setting.

 

Based on the google search algorithm reviews above, to make your site to be in the top ranking of the search index you need:

 

·        Quality content, SEO friendly, current, information-dense, and trusted.

·        User-friendly the appearance of the site when accessed via desktop, mobile device, tablet, or when opened using a browser

·        According to the latest algorithm.

 

SEO Determines Website Page Ranking

Because of its confidential nature, getting high rankings on search engines is not easy. Never mind getting high rankings, so that a website can be listed on search engines like Google, there is a list that must be followed.

 

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the practice of optimizing a website to get high rankings on search engines.

 

SEO is very important and must be done so that a website can appear on Google or other search engines.

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