Every time you search for information on Google, the search engine will offer you a list of results placed according to the algorithm's criteria. If you want your website to appear in Google results, you must know how search engine positioning works and how websites should be optimized to fit with SEO requirements.
To get positioning in the search engines you can apply SEO techniques. There are different SEO techniques to optimize a web page. If you decide to optimize your website, it will be easily indexable for search engines and you will achieve good search engine rankings.
Google uses mechanisms to track and collect information from websites and throws them in the results of searches that are carried out on a daily basis.
Google main phases
The search engine works automatically and has three main phases.
- First, it uses crawlers to find the web pages and save the URLs in a big list.
- Then, it applies indexing, which consists of reviewing what each of the crawled pages is about. In this phase, the Google search engine analyzes the content of the page: its images, texts, files, videos, animations, etc. The information is stored in an extensive database.
- Finally, there is the return of search results, which happens when the user performs a search on Google. The results will depend on different factors, be it the location, the language, or the past searches that the user has made. In the same way, it is necessary to take into account SEO techniques so that Google places your website in the first search results.
search intentions
SEO stands for "search engine optimization", to start applying its techniques, we will first know what types of searches users perform on Google.
navigational search
It is known as direct access search as the user knows the web page or site they want to visit. In most cases, the user does not remember the full URL, so they will put the domain name in the search engine. The user will go exactly to his destination and will hardly change it for another website.
informational search
In this type of search, the user will search for information on different web pages. The search for information will be through news, articles, or virtual stores. In this case, the user does not know exactly where he is going since he has not chosen a specific web page to buy, clear his doubts or meet his needs.
local search
The user performs a search within their region to locate a physical store or establishment. Searches include schools, offices, restaurants, movie theaters, stores, and malls. The first positions that appear will be the ones with the most clicks and visitors.
As you can see, search intentions can vary, and search engines are on a mission to return the best results based on a set of rules.
Web positioning factors in SEO
The factors that influence the ranking of web pages are many, but we will focus on three main metrics that search engines use to evaluate websites.
- Links: Google will take into account the links that your web page has included. Search engines conclude that your website is authoritative when they assess that your web page contains links that redirect to other quality websites. The authority gained from obtaining links or backlinks is called page rank.
- Content: Google search engines will analyze the content of your web page to see if it answers the user's query. At this point, it is important that your content contains keywords that match the searches carried out by your target audience.
- Page structure: It is recommended that the structure of your web page has a code that can be crawled by search engines. For example, you can create an XML sitemap for other larger pages to help your website get located. Also, it is important that the headers and URLs have keywords.
Now, you know how search engines work. The mechanisms used by Google include the crawling of web pages, indexing, and return of results. The processes work in an automated way and there are a series of SEO techniques to get your website to appear in search engines. Good positioning of your website will depend mainly on the structure of your web page, the quality of links, and the content.
