What is crawling, indexing, & Ranking in SEO
Crawling is the process in which a search engine collects information about a website’s content on the internet through crawlers. A Google crawler visits and requests the content of the page.
After crawling Google indexes the page based on its content and meaning, and then stores it in the Google server.
The ranking is the position of a web page shown in Google’s 1st-page search results for a given query.
In this article, you’ll learn how search engines work, from crawling and indexing to ranking.
How Search Engine Works
The search engine derived its results from these 3 steps: crawling, indexing, and ranking.
Crawling is the primary function in the search engine process. It is a discovery state where Google uses artificial intelligence programs known as bots, spiders, and crawlers to extract new and updated information from web pages.
This is when Google is sure that website content, is qualitative, authoritative, and trustworthy and is added to its Google Search Index.
This is the last step when Google shows relevant web pages from its index database to the users.
Crawling: The Web Exploration
Google uses two types of web crawling: one to discover new content and another to update existing content.
Crawling in SEO or Search engine crawling is when search engine bots, called spiders, scan your website’s pages to understand their content and relevance.
These bots follow links on your site to discover new pages to analyze and add to their index.
This path of exploration allows the crawlers to discover fresh content, which it subsequently adds to its server index known as Caffeine.
Later, when a searcher finds information relevant to the content on a specific URL, Googlebot retrieves it from its huge search engine index database.
What Is Google Caffeine? How Does It Work?
“Google Caffeine” is the new indexing system launched by Google Days back in June 2010 aimed to enhance search result speed and accuracy.
It enabled faster crawling, indexing, and ranking of web pages.
Notably, Google Caffeine processed information in real-time, allowing almost instant indexing and displaying new or updated content in search results.
What Is The Crawling Process? How Web Crawling Works?
Crawling is discovering new or updated web pages added to Google’s search engine intelligent system.
“Throughout this process, search engines analyze content, save it to their index, and then follow new URLs to find other pages.
These discovered URls links will fall under many categories:
These are unknown URLs to the search engine. Crawlers discover them during their exploration.
Continuously updating old content URLs sends signals to Google that it’s refreshed.
You could give the command to Google to recrawled and reindex (e.g., via XML sitemaps).
No need for recrawling or reindexing (e.g., HTTP 304 Not Modified).
Behind log-in forms or blocked by “nofollow” tags—search engines avoid them.
Blocked by robots.txt—search engine bots won’t crawl them.
How To Optimize Your Website For Crawling
If you want pages to be crawled, you can optimize the following things:
Submit Sitemap
An XML sitemap is the map of your entire site. Submitting an XML sitemap to the Google Search Console helps the search engines discover your site smoothly.
Copy and Paste the XML sitemap link from the backend of your WordPress Site.
Enter the sitemap URL and hit submit as shown in the above image.
Create Robot.txt File
A robots.txt file serves as a gatekeeper, directing web crawlers to crawl the pages of a website we want them to index.
Creating a robots.txt file sends the command to the crawlers of the content you thought to be indexed and the content you deindex for the search results.
As you see in the above image my robots.txt file is fetched by Google.
You could also request a recrawl by clicking three dots on the right-hand side.
Internal Linking
Thoughtfully structured internal linking, gives clear and logical navigation paths, can minimize crawl depth, and assist search engine bots in efficiently discovering and indexing web pages.
Optimize URLs
Use clear, descriptive URLs to represent the page’s content and structure.
Remove Low-Quality Content
When a website contains a significant amount of low-quality, outdated, or duplicated content, search engine crawlers stop indexing new or recently updated information.
To remove outdated content start by checking the Google Search Console pages report and see the page how much traffic drives to your site.
Indexing: Organizing the Content
Indexing in SEO refers to collecting, analyzing, and storing information on their servers from web pages by search engines.
Once a page is crawled, the search engine uses its artificial intelligence systems to understand which page adds it to an algorithms database known as the index.
How Does Google SEO Indexing Work?
Want to site shown in the Google 1st SERPs it has to pass through Crawling, Indexing, and Ranking.
Step 1: Crawling
Google’s initial interaction with your website occurs during the crawling process.
A Google crawler may discover your site through various means—following links from other sites or direct submission of your sitemap.
Once found, the crawler scans your entire website, examining text, and layout, and even attempting to interpret images and videos.
Step 2: Indexing
After Google crawls your site, the next step is indexing.
This stage is crucial because if your site doesn’t meet the requirements, Google won’t index it, and your site won’t have a chance to rank.
Several factors can prevent Google from indexing a site.
Here are some of the factors that influence how Google indexes:
When a site includes a “no index” tag in its HTML, it signals to Google not to index that site.
Google avoids indexing pages with content that lacks value for users.
The Pages containing duplicate content receive lower indexing priority.
Because Google can't identify the primary and secondary pages, it only sees the canonicalization between pages.
Creating and submitting a sitemap informs Google about your website, increasing the likelihood of crawling and indexing.
If multiple-page versions exist, marking one as non-canonical prevents Google from indexing that version.
If no problem arises at the time of scanning of your website Google adds your website to the search index.
5 Proven Techniques to Index Websites Faster On Google
Claim Your Google Business Profile
When it comes to Google indexing, claiming your business profile on Google has several advantages:
- Enhanced Visibility: Creating your business on GBP (Google Business profile) increases visibility in Google Maps and Search results.
- Control Over Data: You’ll have increased control over your corporate information, ensuring accuracy and relevance.
- Improved Customer Experience: Precise details help enhance the customer experience when they find your business online.
- Credibility and Trust: A verified profile builds credibility and trust with potential customers.
- Local Optimization: Claiming your business profile optimizes local search visibility.
Sitemap Ping
To notify Google about your sitemap updates, follow these steps:
- Open the Google search bar.
- Enter the following URL: “https://google.com/ping?sitemap=YOUR_SITEMAP_URL”.
- Press enter.
After doing this, you’ll receive a message sitemap notification received.
Publish Sitemaps on Google Search Console
In the Google Search console select sitemaps, enter your sitemap URL, and hit submit.
Sitemaps can be either HTML or XML. HTML sitemaps primarily serve as guides for visitors. XML sitemaps direct search engine bots to indexable URLs on a website.
Google Search Operators
This is the fastest and easiest way to check whether Google indexes your site. Go to Google and use this search operator, “site:www.yourdomainhere.com”.
To verify whether your page has been indexed, follow this simple trick: use the search operator sitewww.yourdomainhere.com/your-webpage in your preferred search engine.
Replace “www.yourdomainhere.com” with your actual domain and your-“webpage” with the specific page you want to check.
For example, my website is “influbite.com” and you want to check if the page “influbite.com/blog/indexing-in-seo” is indexed, search for:
Use the same technique as I told you above, if it is indexed it shows the specific page result on Google SERP. Congratulations! Your page has made it into the index.
If not, don’t be upset—there are ways to improve your chances. Ensure your content quality is high, optimize your meta tags, and build relevant backlinks.
URL Inspection
To verify if your page is indexed, follow these steps using Google Search Console:
- Open Google Search Console.
- Use the URL inspection tool.
- Enter your webpage’s URL.
- If indexed, you’ll see a message confirming it’s on Google.
- If not, the tool will indicate that the URL isn’t indexed.
Step 3: Serving Search Results
This is the final step used by Google’s artificial intelligence systems, ranking.
When someone searches on Google, the search engine sifts through its index to identify the most pertinent pages for that query.
If your site is among them, Google will rank it in the search results.
Achieving higher rankings and reaching page one requires a heavy optimization process such as on-page SEO optimization, off-page SEO optimization, etc.
Ranking: Determining Relevance
The ranking is the last step in a search engine process. During this stage, indexed content is evaluated and ordered by Google artificial intelligence based on its relevance to a user’s query.
Google uses Complex algorithms to asses ‘ranking factors, like the quality and relevancy of each piece of content.
These algorithms analyze ranking factors like content structure, user engagement metrics, and external and internal link quality and quantity.
By analyzing these signals, search engines determine which pages are most likely to provide the best answer.
When it comes to Google’s ranking process, evaluates pages against over 200 ranking factors to determine their position in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Some of these factors include:
Creating high-quality, valuable, and relevant content that directly impacts the user intent.
Optimizing your website speed for mobile devices improves user experience and boosts your site visibility in SERP.
When a user searches for any query Google creates a copy of the website in the backend to be shown in the top results so that it loads fast in segments, with forms, images, and headlines appearing at different times.
The speed of each element affects overall load time. Monitoring the elements that end up delaying your page performance is crucial to meeting Core Web Vitals standards.
Difference Between Crawling, Indexing, And Ranking
Let’s break down the difference between Crawling, Indexing, and Ranking :
Crawling
Crawling is how search engines explore the web, sending out robots (called crawlers or spiders) to discover new and updated content.
Indexing
Indexing is the next step, where the information found is stored in a massive database, ready to be served to users looking for relevant content.
Not All Pages Get Indexed
Just because a spider visited your page doesn’t guarantee it’ll be indexed. Some pages might be excluded intentionally (e.g., duplicate content, low-quality pages).
Ranking
SEO ranking, or search engine optimization ranking, is where your website is shown on search engine results pages (SERPs) when someone searches for a related term.
The closer your link is to the top, the more likely people will see and click on it, driving more traffic and boosting your visibility.
The Symbiotic Relationship
Crawling, indexing, and ranking are the pillars of the search engine experience.
Crawling discovers content, indexing organizes it, and ranking determines relevant results.
For effective SEO, content must be discoverable, well-indexed, and optimized.
By mastering these processes, businesses, and individuals enhance their online visibility and achieve digital marketing objectives.”
FAQ's
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Crawling, indexing and ranking are the most important aspects of your site, without this your site can’t be seen by Google.
And again thanks for sharing the in depth article 🙏😌