Want to better understand how you can show up in Google’s search results? Then the best place to start is to understand how search engines index pages.
After a crawl, search engines need to index your web page. They will, however, only index certain websites that suit their criteria and this will depend entirely on the directives that you have provided them.
Here, we’ll be walking you through exactly how search engines index content and everything you need to know to get your site’s main pages indexed in SERPs. Let’s dive in.
Introduction to Search Engine Indexing
Search engine indexing is a complex relationship between your website and a search engine like Google. It’s how you get website visibility and organic traffic, so it plays a vital role in search engine optimisation.
What is Search Engine Indexing?
Search engines, like Google, use indexing (aka search engine indexing) to organise information found on the web.
This involves breaking down text content and web pages into individual words or phrases, called tokens, through tokenisation.
These tokens are then used to build an inverted index, a massive database that functions like a library catalogue for the web.
Once your website has been indexed, search engines will then show your website on the SERPs. Your rank will depend on various technical, on-page, and off-page factors – which you can influence.
How Search Engines Index Websites
To participate in the SERPs, your web page must undergo a selection process. This is performed by bots, such as the Googlebot, which crawl your web page.
Here’s an overview of the indexing process:
- Step 1 – Crawling: First, crawlers discover web pages by following links. This could be through a sitemap or external and internal links.
- Step 2 – Rendering: Next, bots process the page, including JavaScript, to see it as a user would.
- Step 3 – Tokenisation & Analysis: After, content is broken down into words/phrases for understanding, and metadata is extracted.
- Step 4 – Indexing: During this, bots gather information, which is then stored in a searchable database.
- Step 5 – Ranking: Lastly, when a query is made, relevant pages are retrieved and ranked for display.
Remember, however, steps 4 and 5 aren’t guaranteed. Several factors, such as technical issues, on-page problems, or poor backlinks, may result in you not getting indexed or ranking high.
Factors Affecting Search Engine Indexing
Many different factors affect search engine indexing. Some of the most popular factors consist of the following:
Crawling and Crawlers
As you know, crawlers crawl your website in search of new content. However, they must be able to navigate through your website and find these new pages.
If they cannot find these pages or if they struggle to navigate to them, it could prolong the indexing process or, in some cases, never index a page.
Several factors affect the effectiveness of a crawl:
- XML Sitemap: This is an XML file listing all the pages on a website. Crawlers can manually crawl them, or you can submit them manually to a search console, like Google Search Console.
- Robot.txt File: This file can be added to a web page, instructing crawlers on whether they should crawl a page.
- Internal Linking: These are links from your website to other pages on your website. Crawlers can follow these and discover new pages.
- External Links (Backlinks): These are links from other websites to your website; crawlers can follow these and find new pages.
Indexing Process
After crawling comes indexing, which has its own set of “Rules”. During this process, bots crawl the web page, identify what the page is about and link it to keywords and search queries.
Several factors influence how content is indexed:
| SEO Factor | Description |
| Content | Unique, informative content relevant to your target audience is key. |
| Technical | Ensure your site is crawlable with a clear sitemap and robots.txt file. |
| Backlinks | Even a few links from relevant sites can help search engines discover your content. |
| Freshness | Regular updates signal to search engines that your site is active and relevant. |
Importance of Backlinks
Backlinks also play a massive role in whether your web page gets indexed. Backlinks could be considered to be 50% of SEO. It’s been proven time and time again that banklinks help indexing and rankings.
A study from Ahrefs represents this perfectly. They analysed many websites and saw a correlation between backlinks (referring domains) and traffic.
Source: Ahrefs
Brian Dean once said, “Beyond just search engine perception, backlinks are also pivotal in driving direct traffic to your site.”
When getting backlinks, they should be from trusted sources. They should also be relevant to your website. When building a backlink strategy, ensure websites don’t only link to your website using the exact anchor text – this can flag up on search engines.
Instead, you want to build a broad backlink profile—for example, some brand matches, some keyword matches, and others.
Optimising for Search Engine Indexing
There are many ways you can optimise search engine indexing. Here are a few examples:
| Optimisation Technique | Description | How-To |
| XML Sitemaps | List of pages to aid search engine crawling. | Create and submit an XML sitemap using search engine webmaster tools. |
| Robots.txt File | File instructing crawlers which pages to access or avoid. | Create and upload a robots.txt file to your website’s root directory. |
| High-Quality Content | Informative, engaging content relevant to your audience. | Conduct keyword research and write original and valuable content. |
| Keyword Optimization | Strategic use of relevant keywords in your content. | Research and use relevant keywords naturally throughout your content. |
| Technical SEO | Website speed, mobile optimisation, structured data, no broken links. | Optimise page load speed, ensure mobile responsiveness, use structured data markup, and fix broken links. |
| Internal Linking | Links connecting relevant pages within your website. | Link relevant pages using descriptive anchor text. |
| External Backlinks | Links from reputable websites to your pages. | Create shareable content and build relationships with other website owners. |
| Regular Updates | Keeping content fresh and current. | Regularly publish new content or update existing content. |
| Meta Tags Optimization | Compelling title tags and descriptions with keywords. | Write unique and accurate title tags and meta descriptions for each page. |
| Image Optimization | Descriptive file names and alt text for images. | Use relevant keywords in image file names and alt text. |
| URL Structure | Clean, descriptive URLs. | Use clear and concise URLs that reflect the page’s content. |
| Schema Markup | Structured data providing context to search engines. | Add schema markup to your website’s HTML code. |
Using Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a free tool offered by Google to help website owners monitor and maintain their site’s presence in the search rankings.
The tool itself is very valuable, especially when it comes to indexing. Some features it offers are:
- Index coverage reports
- URL inspection tool
- Performance report
- Links report
- Mobile usability report
- Core web vital report
These reports can help you analyse, monitor, and optimise your website to ensure optimal indexing.
Other Search Engine Consoles
You also have a few other search engine consoles. Some popular ones consist of the following:
Comparing Search Engine Consoles
| Feature | Google Search Console | Bing Webmaster Tools | Yandex Webmaster |
| Search Engine | Bing | Yandex | |
| Primary Focus | Website performance in Google search | Website performance in Bing search | Website performance in Yandex search |
| Core Features | Search analytics, indexing status, sitemap submission, mobile usability report, URL inspection | Search analytics, sitemap submission, crawl errors, keyword research, SEO reports | Search analytics, indexing status, sitemap submission, robots.txt analysis, structured data validation |
| Additional Features | Page experience report, Core Web Vitals assessment, link report, security issues report | Backlink analysis, SEO analyser, site scan, fetch as Bingbot | Turbo pages support, regional settings, content analysis, original texts |
PageRank and Link Equity
PageRank and link equity are other factors that are huge in indexing. It helps with indexing and can speed up the indexing process and increase your SERP rankings.
Understanding PageRank
PageRank was a term coined by Google’s founders over 20 years ago. Think of them as “Votes” in the form of backlinks for other websites.
The more “Votes” you have from other websites to your website or a particular page, the more trusted your web content is. It also makes your content easier to find as bots crawl the linking website.
Remember, however, that not all “Votes” are equal. A few “Votes” from relevant, highly authoritative websites to your website will beat hundreds of poor-quality, irrelevant backlinks.
How PageRank Flows Through Pages
PageRank flows from one site to another and also from page to page. If you get a backlink to your blog post, the link equity from the backlink will also pass through the internal links on the backlink.
For example, let’s say you create top-of-funnel content, like “How to fix a broken toilet”. If you get a link to this, the PageRank can flow into your service pages (if they’re linked on the blog post), increasing your indexability and rank on them.
The Importance of Backlinks
Backlinks are among the top-ranking factors in Google. Andrey Lipattsev, Search Quality Senior Strategist at Google, confirmed this during an interview.
Not only this, but there have been studies, again and again, such as this one from Ahrefs, showing a direct correlation between referring domains (backlinks) and monthly search traffic.
The reasons they’re so important are that:
- They boost your authority and trustworthiness
- They let crawlers find your page via other websites
In general, they improve crawlability, indexability, and rankings.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are a wide range of factors that go into how search engines index pages and what you can do to help boost your chances of ranking well in SERPs.
From good technical health through to a strong backlink profile, making sure that bots can effectively crawl your site, understand the relevance of your content, and believe that it is authoritative and useful enough to warrant being shown to users in Google and other search engines, there’s plenty that you can do. Need help getting your site indexed or ranking better? Speak to one of our Hawks today!
FAQs
What is the purpose of search engine indexing?
Search engine indexing organises and stores website content, enabling quick and relevant information retrieval when users search. This is essential for making websites discoverable and driving organic traffic.
How can I optimise my website for search engine indexing?
To optimise your website for indexing:
- Submit an XML sitemap
- Use a robots.txt file
- Create high-quality content
- Prioritise technical SEO aspects like site speed and mobile-friendliness
- Build backlinks from reputable sources.
Can search engines index all types of content?
While search engines can index vast content, some types present challenges. Rich media like videos and images may require additional metadata for proper indexing, while dynamically generated content and password-protected pages can be difficult for crawlers to access.
