How Google Search Works | A Novice SEO Webmaster Guide

The Google search engine remains the cornerstone of just about everything the company does. As large as Google has grown, and as many changes as it has seen, its primary purpose is still clear —to help users find what they want on the internet. And that’s where the Google search engine algorithms shine.

In reality, Pandu Nayak has been with the company for more than 14 years and is now the vice president for search. “One kind of primary thing that has not changed, in those 14 years, which I value tremendously, is this idea that we built Google search for users. We built it because people come to Google for things that matter in their lives,” Nayak says.

He then adds, “It’s our deep, deep responsibility to give them great results, great answers great experiences, and help them go about their lives more effectively.” Notably, the Google search engine is a powerful tool yes, but not like the internet which is a big place.

It’s sometimes hard to find what you’re looking for. Nayak and many others throughout the company work with the idea that getting you what you’re after — figuring out what you want — is their responsibility. No matter what you type into the search bar.

They study language and intent, incorporate machine learning and artificial intelligence, and note every search that is undertaken. All in an effort to make it easier for the users.

Why Google Search?

First of all, Google can help narrow down what you’re looking for with specialized searches. You can browse through different categories that pertain to your keywords. Including images, maps, news articles, or video footage. As well as products or services you can purchase online, content in books, videos, scholarly papers, etc.

For example, if you search for the term “Planet Earth” in the news category, the results will include only news articles that contain those keywords. The results will look very different from Google’s normal SERP. And like all search engines, Google uses a special algorithm to determine its search results.

Read Also: Breadcrumbs Navigation | A Webmasters Beginners Guide

While Google shares some facts about its algorithm, the specifics are a company secret. This helps Google remain competitive with other search engines and reduces the chance of someone finding out how to abuse the system. Google uses automated programs called spiders or crawlers, just like most search engines, to help generate its search results.

It has a large index of keywords that help determine search results. What sets Google apart is how it ranks its results, which determines the order Google displays results on its search engine results pages. Google uses a trademarked algorithm called PageRank, which assigns each Web page a relevancy score.

A Web page’s PageRank depends on a few factors:
  • The frequency and location of keywords within the Web page: If the keyword appears only once within the body of a page, it will receive a low score for that keyword.
  • How long the Web page has existed: People create new Web pages every day, and not all of them stick around for long. Google places more value on pages with an established history.
  • The number of other Web pages that link to the page in question: Google looks at how many Web pages link to a particular site to determine its relevance.

Out of these three factors, the third is the most important. Simply, because Google looks at links to a Web page as a vote, it’s not easy to cheat the system.

The best way to make sure your Web page is high on Google’s search results is to provide great content so that other sites will link to your page. The more links your page gets, the higher its PageRank score will be. If you attract the attention of sites with a high PageRank score, your score will grow faster.

What is Google Search News?

According to Webmaster Central Blog, Google Search News are already coming to a screen near you. Whereby, with Google Search News, webmasters will get a regular & short summary of what’s been happening around Google Search. Specifically for SEOs, publishers, developers, and webmasters.

To enumerate, Keywords are ideas and topics that define what your content is about. In terms of SEO, they’re the words and phrases that searchers enter into search engines. And also, called “search queries.”

What is Google Search News?

Any time you type a word or phrase into a search box—on Google, for example—you are using keywords. Especially, to try to find relevant images, videos, or information.

In other words, Keywords are basically terms that we send to search engines. In general, when we’re on the prowl for answers, knowledge, products, or services.

Read Also: Search Engine Optimization | A Step-by-step Starter Guide

It’s important to realize, the world of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Results are constantly evolving. Therefore, new tools, opportunities, and features are regularly arriving. And also, sometimes existing things change, and sometimes we say goodbye to some things to make way for the new.

So, to help you stay on top of things, Google Webmasters have started a New YouTube Series called Google Search News as seen in the video below.

In today’s competitive market, a combination of Best SEO Tactics with other web tricks comes handy in helping web-pages rank on page one.

Also, not forgetting, Search Engines serve millions of users per day looking for answers to their questions or for solutions to their problems. While advertisers can pay to be displayed in clearly marked sections of the search results page, no one can buy better placement in the search results.

And, that is why Google Search News is important to the Webmasters for they will have room to expand their knowledge base.

Read Also: What are Search Engines? 10 Best Picks For Webmasters
1. Computer Algorithms

First, Google’s Computer Algorithms select what you see in Google News, except as noted. And in general, the algorithms determine which stories, images, and videos show, and in what order.

Google News shows some content in a personalized way. Personalization can help you see content that interests you more easily and quickly.

Note: Some of these features are only available if you’re signed in to your Google Account.

2. Top News, for Everyone

Secondly, the Computer Algorithms pick subjects for these sections by language and region such as;

  • Full coverage
  • Search results
  • Headline news
    • In your app, Headlines
    • In your app, “Headline” stories in your briefing
    • On Google News, “Headlines” stories in Top stories

In these sections, people using the same language and region see the same subjects covered.

3. News Personalized for You

Algorithms pick subjects for these sections with personalization for your settings and past activity on Google:

  • For you For you
  • Topics, sources, and locations in Favorites Favorites
  • All other stories and notifications, except as noted

In these sections, people can see different subjects covered. You can read and learn how to change the settings and see past activities here.

4. Chosen by People

Publishers select the stories inside their publications. The Google News Merchandising team picks the “Featured” publications In Newsstand. Significantly, the Google News Product Experience team can add temporary topics for major events.

For example, an election or the Olympics. Algorithms display the top-ranked stories in those topics. Some Google News topics can include links to relevant Google Search results. And as an example, in an “Elections” topic, you could see “How to register to vote.” The Product Experience team specifies these searches.

Read Also: What is Bounce Rate? 8 Ways to improve a site conversion

We all know that search results can always be better. And that’s why Google engineers spend every day testing it, conducting hundreds of thousands of experiments every year, resulting in thousands of improvements.

For example, every time you search, there are thousands, sometimes millions, of webpages with helpful information. How Google figures out which results to show starts long before you even type, and is guided by a commitment to you to provide the best information.

The First Episode of Google Search News by John Mueller 

Even before you search, Google organizes information about webpages in its search index. Whereby, the index is like a library, except it contains more info than in all the world’s libraries put together. And in a fraction of a second, Google’s Search algorithms sort through hundreds of billions of webpages in their Search index.

This helps it to find the most relevant, useful results for what you’re looking for. To help you find what you’re looking for quickly, Google provides results in many useful formats. Whether presented as a map with directions, images, videos, or stories.

We’re constantly evolving with new ways to present information. And as can be seen, the first episode of Google search news is already out.

In this episode above, John Mueller is seen covering touching on the following items:

  1. Recent updates to Google Search Console (0:39),
  2. Change in the Webmaster office hours setup (1:20),
  3. Revamp and expansion of the nofollow links (2:08),
  4. Making review rich results more helpful (3:09),
  5. New meta tags (3:49), and Webmaster conferences worldwide (4:40).

Resources:

Part of this article was first published by John Mueller, webmaster trends analyst, Google Switzerland. You can read and learn more about Google’s rigorous testing labs in this article.

And apart from the exclusive updates on Google Search News for Webmasters provided above, consider sharing your additional online FAQs.

Also, Contact Us if you’ll incur a glitch or even if you might have more search queries on this or more of our blog topics. You can also see more useful and related topic links below;

  1. SEO Best Routine Practices For Webmasters
  2. Doodly | The Perfect Software to Create free Doodle Videos
  3. What is Keywords Search? A Step-by-step Beginners Guide
  4. Yoast SEO Plugin | Turn Your Site Into an SEO Powerhouse
  5. Googlebot | Web Crawler Step-by-step Beginners Guide

Now that you’ve found the information above to be helpful, don’t forget to donate and support our research work here.


Important Note:

Whenever it comes to Keywords Search for your site, I specifically find the Keyword Tool to be the best alternative to Google Keyword Planner and other Keyword Research Tools. And also, I know that this tool will greatly help you if you’re in the process of rolling out a new website.

Even if you are a pro webmaster, this keyword tool comes handy whenever your keyword plan runs dry. So, to enumerate, the Keyword Tool is a free online keyword research instrument that uses Google Autocomplete. In that case, to help you generate hundreds of relevant Long-tail Keywords for any topic.

Google Autocomplete is a feature used in Google Search. And its purpose is to speed up the searches performed by users on Google. Read and learn more about how to use these tools in this article.


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