As someone who is involved in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), we not only need to learn SEO, but we also have to learn how the Google Search search engine works.
Without knowing how search engines work, we will never know what we have to do on a website to be easily "recognized" by Google at each stage of the work process.
Knowing how the Google search engine works is the basis of SEO. So that your SEO foundation becomes stronger, please read this article until the end.
What is search engine?
A search engine is a software program created to help people find the information they are looking for online using a number of queries, phrases or keywords. Search engines with various technologies in them are able to provide search results quickly even though the number of websites available is very large.
Google Search is a fully automatic search engine made by Google that works using software (web crawlers) to explore websites regularly and find web pages which are then included in the index.
Most of the web pages listed in Google search results are not entered manually, but these websites are found and added to the index automatically when Google web crawlers crawl the web.
You need to know that Google does not accept payment in any form to be able to crawl websites more often, or to provide the highest ranking on the search engine results page (SERP). If anyone says Google accepts payments, that means they are wrong.
Google also does not provide any guarantees regarding the crawling process, indexing, or displaying your website in Google Search even if you have implemented Google's guidelines and policies for website owners.
Although there are no guarantees, implementing the Google guide above is the best way to make your website more likely to be successful in Google Search.
What are the three steps in the search stage?
Google Search works in 3 stages, namely:
- Crawling: Google downloads text, images and videos from web pages it finds on the internet through an automatic program called Crawler.
- Indexing: Google analyzes text, images and videos on web pages, and stores this information in the Google index, this Google index is a large database.
- Ranking/Serving search results (Displaying search results): When a user searches on Google Search, Google will display relevant information according to what the user is looking for.
Please note, there is no guarantee that all the web pages you own will successfully pass each of the processes above.
The above is only a brief explanation, now we will try to discuss crawling, indexing, and ranking (serving search results) in full.
1. Crawling
The first process that Google carries out is crawling, which is the process of finding web pages on the web (internet). Erzedka friends need to know that Google does not have a data center that gets information about all web pages in the world, so Google must routinely look for new and updated web pages to put in the list of known pages. This process is called “URL discovery”.
Some web pages are known because Google has visited them, while other web pages are found when Google searches for links from known web pages, for example hub pages, category pages, internal links to the latest blog posts, and also by sending a collection of links (sitemap). ) via Google Search Console.
When Google finds a web page URL, Google will visit (or crawl) the web page to find out what content is discussed. Google uses all of these steps using a large number of computers to crawl billions of web pages.
Google uses a program called Googlebot which is also known as a crawler, robot, bot, or spider. This Googlebot works algorithmically to decide which web pages will be crawled, how often, and how many web pages are retrieved from a website.
Google crawler is also programmed not to crawl websites too quickly to avoid overloading. Even though Googlebot is sophisticated, it is still not required to crawl all the web pages it finds. Because it is very possible that Googlebot is "forbidden" from crawling by the site owner, or it could also be because there is a technical problem that makes Googlebot unable to crawl. Some problems that are often encountered when crawling:
- Server problems
- Network problems
- Problem prevention by robots.txt
During the crawling process, Google will render the web page and run any JavaScript it finds using the latest version of Google Chrome, and this method is similar to how the browser you use works when rendering the website you are visiting.
The rendering process is an important process because most websites rely on JavaScript to display their content, without rendering Google might have difficulty seeing the content.
2. Indexing
The next process is indexing, the indexing stage is carried out after the web page crawling stage is complete. At this stage, Google tries to understand what the web page is discussing, carries out processing and analyzes the textual content, tags and attributes such as title, description, alt image, images, videos and other elements.
While this process is being carried out, Google will decide whether this web page has duplicates (copies) of other web pages on the same website or internet or is canonical. Canonical itself is a web page that will most likely be displayed in search results.
Google chooses canonical web pages by grouping web pages that have similar content, then choosing the one that best suits what the user is looking for. The rest will become alternative web pages if the user searches using a different device or looking for more specific topics/content.
Google search engine not only groups canonical pages, but also collects a number of signals (data) and content contained in them, because it is still possible for these web pages to be displayed in search results.
Some examples of signals that Google considers are:
- The language used on the website
- The country where the content is located
- Usability (usability) of the web page, and so on
Please remember, there is no guarantee for this indexing process, because not all web pages that Google crawls will be indexed. Some problems that are often encountered during the indexing process:
- Owned content is low quality
- Meta robots disallow indexing
- Website design that is too complex
3. Ranking Serving Search Results
Serving search results occurs when a user types a query/phrase, then Google will search (web pages in its index) and display the web pages that are most appropriate, high quality and relevant to the user. In layman's language, this process is called ranking, because pages that are ranked higher are pages that are considered more relevant to users.
This relevance is measured by many factors, one of which is:
- User location
- Language
- Device (Desktop or mobile phone)
For example, a search for "flower shop" will display different results for users in Jakarta, Indonesia than for users in Turin, Italy.
Friends also need to know, it is very possible that a website appears to have been indexed in the Google Search Console report, but when you check the search results it doesn't appear. This can happen for several reasons:
- Irrelevant content
- Low quality content
- Blocking by meta robots
What is the function of search engine?
Search engines basically have the main function as a tool to provide information for everyone. When almost everyone uses a search engine, then what exactly is the function offered by the search engine itself?
When using a search engine, users who want or need information only need to enter keywords in the search engine system. Next, various web lists related to the entered word will be displayed to the user. This step is usually referred to in the computer world as crawling or the process of collecting data or indexing.
It can be seen from the first function that has been explained, all users can access it via search engines to get any information. Starting from information about the weather, social media, items you want to buy, even various types of goods, provided that they have been loaded in the WWW system.
Discussing the search and sale of a product, search engines are not only tools that can be used to find information. This current development is also the second function of search engines, namely that they can be used to maximize the optimization of a business, such as marketing products.
As the days go by, more and more people are using search engines to maximize and fulfill their daily needs. This is what ultimately gave rise to search engine optimization as a field for conducting extensive online business. Before the advent of search engines, someone sold with a limited and limited reach. Now, someone can sell with a very wide reach.
Nowadays, users who need an item can directly meet online with other users who sell that item. These transaction activities are no longer limited by region, because everyone can connect using the internet and find them using search engines.
Just with keywords, someone can get a lot of information about the products they want and need. In the end, this will make it very easy for sellers to find out how much a product is being sought in an area, so it will make it very easy to carry out the advertising process via search engines.
The advertising system provided by search engines is, for example, Google Ads from Google. Therefore, currently, search engines have become a tool that has a very important role in human life, from just searching for information to maximizing the marketing of a product outside the region or even outside the country.
Best Search Engines in the World
Google has succeeded in gaining the trust of its users, the quality and results it has provided so far have proven its greatness. Google's algorithm processing engine is known to have the ability to research very well and is able to present very accurate results.
Currently, the search engine that most satisfies users and is the most popular in the world is Google. Google can almost certainly be called the king of search engines, this is because the number of users is too large. However, apart from Google, did you know that there are other search engines that are also widely used?
1. Bing
The first alternative search engine after Google is Bing. Currently, Bing has a user usage percentage via desktop of 2.55% and 12.60% via smartphone. Bing is basically a search engine from Microsoft which was created in 2009. Bing itself was created by Microsoft to stop Google's dominance.
Bing was originally a combination of three search engines, namely MS search, Windows Live search and Live Search. Furthermore, this search engine can automatically be used on Windows PC.
2. Yahoo
Yahoo is the second search engine after Google which is also an email provider. To date, Yahoo is in third place with market control of up to 2%. From October 2011 to October 2015, Yahoo was under Bing ownership. After that, Google also wanted to have Yahoo's market share.
However, precisely in October 2019, Yahoo was finally re-acquired exclusively by Bing. Yahoo is actually the default search engine for the Firefox browser which was made in England since 2014. Based on Alexa, Yahoo is one of the most visited web portals in the world.
3. Baidu
Furthermore, Baidu is a search engine that currently wants to dominate the market with 0.7% of users on desktops and 11.8% on smartphones. This search engine, which was built in 2000, is a very popular search engine in China. Even though it can be reached almost all over the world, this search engine is a search engine that uses Chinese.
Based on the rankings made by Alexa, currently, Baidu is ranked 4th as the most widely used search engine. Baidu itself provides many features such as news, maps, and cloud storage.
4. Yandex
After knowing search engines from the United States, England to China, next is the search engine from Russia, namely Yandex. Yandex itself is a search engine that dominates the market with 0.45% of users on computer devices and 1.41% on mobile devices.
Based on the ranking made by Alexa, Yandex is a search engine that is in the 30th most popular website and is ranked fourth. In Russia, Yandex is the largest and most popular search engine with presentations reaching 65%. Not only that, Yandex also succeeded in being a presentation for a technology company that makes machine learning products.
5. Duck Duck Go
Duck Duck Go is a search engine that controls the market by around 0.42%. Every day, this search engine is used by 47 million users. Unlike other well-known search engines, Duck Duck Go does not perform indexing, but the search engine presents search results from various sources.
This shows that the search engine from Duck Duck Go is not equipped with its own data storage, but still depends on other search engines such as Yahoo and Bing. This limitation is what makes Duck Duck Go inferior when compared to Google. However, the advantages of using Duck Duck Go are that it has a clean appearance, does not track users, and most importantly it is not filled with advertisements.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Google works in three stages, namely:
Crawling > Indexing > Ranking/Serving search results
Each of the stages above is a crucial part of the website. Therefore, friends, you need to understand more deeply about website optimization related to Google crawling and indexing.
You can read the article about crawl budget, if you want to know more about the crawling process. It is also recommended to follow Google's SEO guidelines so that your website has the potential to get the best performance.
Finally, do you have any questions regarding how Google Search works? Please let us know by writing a comment below