11 March 2020

Understanding the Basics of Google

Before moving forward in this highly competitive field of search engine optimization, online marketing and web innovation. We felt it necessary to write a blog which covers the basic workings of the search engine Google. Indeed, to understand where you are going it is necessary to know where you’ve been. The aim of this blog is to get a general idea of how Google works and then we can share more detailed blogs in the future on white hat seo practices.

As large as Google has grown, 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 Google’s search engine shines. Google uses automated programs called spiders or crawlers, just like most search engines, to help generate its search results. Google has a large index of keywords that help determine search results. … Google uses a trademarked algorithm called PageRank, which assigns each Web page a relevancy score.

What Is an Algorithm?
Consider how you use a computer in a typical day. For example, you start working on a report, and once you have completed a paragraph, you perform a spell check. You open up a spreadsheet application to do some financial projections to see if you can afford a new car loan. You use a web browser to search online for a kind of car you want to buy.
You may not think about this very consciously, but all of these operations performed by your computer consist of algorithms. An algorithm is a well-defined procedure that allows a computer to solve a problem. Another way to describe an algorithm is a sequence of unambiguous instructions. The use of the term ‘unambiguous’ indicates that there is no room for subjective interpretation. Every time you ask your computer to carry out the same algorithm, it will do it in exactly the same manner with the exact same result.

Consider the earlier examples again. Spell checking uses algorithms. Financial calculations use algorithms. A search engine uses algorithms. In fact, it is difficult to think of a task performed by your computer that does not use algorithms.

How Do Algorithms Work?
Let’s take a closer look at an example.
A very simple example of an algorithm would be to find the largest number in an unsorted list of numbers. If you were given a list of five different numbers, you would have this figured out in no time, no computer needed. Now, how about five million different numbers? Clearly, you are going to need a computer to do this, and a computer needs an algorithm.

Below is what the algorithm could look like. Let’s say the input consists of a list of numbers, and this list is called L. The number L1 would be the first number in the list, L2 the second number, etc. And we know the list is not sorted – otherwise, the answer would be really easy. So, the input to the algorithm is a list of numbers, and the output should be the largest number in the list.

What is Google Crawling?
Crawling basically means following a path.

In the SEO world, crawling means following your links and “crawling” around your website. When bots come to your website (any page), they follow other linked pages also on your website. This is one reason why we create sitemaps, as they contain all of the links in our blog and Google’s bots can use them to look deeply into a website. Although it varies, it seems to take as little as 4 days and up to 6 months for a site to be crawled by Google and attribute authority to the domain. When you publish a new blog post, site page, or website in general, there are many factors that determine how quickly it will be indexed by Google.

Google uses automated programs called spiders or crawlers, just like most search engines, to help generate its search results. Google 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.
The way we stop crawling certain parts of our site is by using the robots.txt file.
Factors That Affect Crawling:
There are millions of websites on this earth. Is everyone satisfied with the crawling and indexing rate?? No!! Most people are left constantly wondering why their articles aren’t getting indexed.

Let’s take a look at some major factors which play some important roles at the backend of crawling and indexing.

What is Google Indexing?
In layman’s terms, indexing is the process of adding web pages into Google search.
Depending upon which meta tag you used (index or NO-index), Google will crawl and index your pages. A no-index tag means that that page will not be added to the web search’s index.
• By default, every WordPress post and page is indexed.
A good idea for ranking higher in search engines is to let only vital parts of your blog/website be indexed.

Do not index unnecessary archives like tags, categories, and all other useless pages.

If you want to find out more about more details of the inner working on Google, we found this course on Google that might be helpful.

Google Analytics for Beginners shows new users how to create an account, implement tracking code, and set up data filters. You’ll learn how to navigate the Google Analytics interface and reports, and set up dashboards and shortcuts. The course will also demonstrate how to analyze basic Audience, Acquisition, and Behavior reports, and set up goals and campaign tracking.

Unit 1: Introducing Google Analytics
o Lesson 1: Why digital analytics?
o Lesson 2: How Google Analytics works
o Lesson 3: Google Analytics setup
o Lesson 4: How to set up views with filters

Unit 2: The Google Analytics Interface
o Lesson 1: Navigating Google Analytics
o Lesson 2: Understanding overview reports
o Lesson 3: Understanding full reports
o Lesson 4: How to share reports
o Lesson 5: How to set up dashboards and shortcuts

Unit 3: Basic Reports
o Lesson 1: Audience reports
o Lesson 2: Acquisition reports
o Lesson 3: Behavior reports

Unit 4: Basic Campaign and Conversion Tracking
o Lesson 1: How to measure Custom Campaigns
o Lesson 2: Tracking campaigns with the URL Builder
o Lesson 3: Use Goals to measure business objectives
o Lesson 4: How to measure Google Ads campaigns
o Lesson 5: Course review and next steps

https://analytics.google.com/analytics/academy/course/6

The Google search engine remains the cornerstone of just about everything the company does. As large as Google has grown, 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 Google’s search engine shines.

Sources:
https://analytics.google.com/analytics/academy/course/6