What is the Google Algorithm?
When you’re browsing Google and searching for something, have you ever wondered how it decides which results to show first?
Simply put, the Google Algorithm is a complex set of instructions, sequences and actions that are used to sorts through billions of web pages to rank and find the most relevant results for your search.
How Does Google’s Algorithm Work?
Let’s look at an example: You’re looking for a digital marketing company that offers SEO. When you search “best SEO company in Australia,” Google’s algorithm quickly analyses all the available pages on the internet that could answer your question.
But how does it know which pages to show you first?
While Google keeps many of these details private, it then ranks these pages based on hundreds of factors to show you the most relevant and useful results first. Some of these factors that Google considers is:
- Meaning: Google uses language models to try and understand the intent behind a search, not just match the keywords. Are you looking for a definition, an answer to a question, or a nearby service? Understanding this helps Google deliver more accurate results.
- Relevance: Google’s algorithm looks at how closely a page matches a query, considering factors like keyword usage and topic coverage to determine if the content is relevant to a search.
- Quality: Google prioritises high-quality content that is well-researched, authoritative, and trustworthy. The algorithm looks at various signals such a backlinking and engagement to gauge trustworthiness.
- Usability: User experience matters and Google favours pages that are easy to navigate, mobile-friendly, and quick to load.
- Context: The algorithm also considers a user’s personal context, such as location, search history, and the device being using, to tailor results that are most relevant.
- Length: While there’s no perfect word count, Google often prefers content that is thorough and comprehensive. Longer, well-structured content that covers a topic in depth tends to perform better.
- Backlinks: Google sees high-quality backlinks from reputable websites as votes of confidence, telling them (and users) that a page is trustworthy and valuable.
- Engagement: How users interact with a page can also impact its ranking. Pages with high engagement, such as longer dwell times and lower bounce rates, signal to Google that the content is valuable and will likely rank it higher.
Why are Google Algorithms Important?
Google’s end goal is to provide users with the best results for their queries as possible. Google’s algorithms and complex systems help categorise the billions of webpages on the internet so that users don’t have to.
But as user expectations and needs grow, Google needs to keep up too. That’s why it makes changes and updates to their algorithms almost everyday to improve the accuracy and quality of search results. Many of these are too small to be noticeable. However, several times a year they will make very big, significant changes to their algorithms and systems. These are called “Core Updates” and announced by Google when they start to roll out.
Some of the biggest we’ve seen are:
- Panda: Announced in February 2011, this updated focused on duplicate, plagiarised and low quality content.
- Penguin: Rolled out in 2012, this focused on spammy, irrelevant links – penalising website’s who’s backlink profile looked too unnatural. This was put in place to put an end to link buying and link farms.
- Hummingbird: This update released in 2013. While keyword optimisation is still important, this update was introduced to help Google better interpret search queries and provide results that matched their intent, instead of looking at matching keywords.
- Mobile: This updated, released in 2015, aimed to improve the mobile usability of website. Seeing that many users searched on their mobile devices, Google sought to improve these mobile experiences.
Types of Google Algorithm
While there are several algorithms that haven’t been publicly announced, there are a few that are common knowledge. These include:
- Ranking Algorithm: This algorithm determines how pages are ranked in search results. It takes into account a number of factors, including relevance, quality, user experience (and many, many more), to decide which pages appear at the top.
- PageRank: This is one of the earliest algorithms developed by Google and measures the importance of a webpage based on the number and quality of links pointing to it. While it’s no longer the sole factor in ranking, PageRank still plays a role in determining a page’s authority.
- Spam Algorithm: Google’s spam algorithms work to detect and penalise websites that use tactics (AKA black hat) to manipulate the search engine results. These include practices like keyword stuffing, cloaking, and link schemes.
- RankBrain: A part of Google’s core algorithm, RankBrain is an machine-learning system that helps process and understand search queries, especially those that are unique or ambiguous.
