The ABCs of Search Engine Indexing

A is for Algorithm, B is for Bots, C is for Crawling

This article is an ‘introduction’ to how search engines find out what information is available online, where it can be found and how they will rank this content.  An introduction – because the algorithms at work are a closely guarded secret. The search engines do help you by sharing insights to what they are looking for, what constitutes quality content.  They also share some rules regarding content, or tactics, they do not like. Here’s a link to Google’s Guidelines for a search friendly web site  which shares some details on how google finds, indexes and ranks a website.

What is Search Engine Indexing?

Search engine indexing is the process by which search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo! catalogue and organize the billions of web pages on the internet. The index is essentially a giant library of all the pages that have been discovered by the search engine’s crawlers.

When a search engine crawler (also called as bot or spider) discovers a new page, it follows the links on that page to find other pages. It then uses an algorithm to determine the relevance and authority of each page and assigns a ranking to each page based on that relevance and authority.

The ranking is used to determine the order in which pages will appear in search results for a given query. The higher a page’s ranking, the more likely it is to appear at the top of search results.

Search engine indexing is a continuous process, as new pages are constantly being added and old pages are being removed or updated. The search engine’s algorithm is also constantly being updated to improve the relevance and authority of the pages in the index.

Overall, Search Engine Indexing is a complex process that involve crawling, indexing, and ranking. It is essential for a website to be indexed properly to be found by users searching for related content on search engines.

How Does a Search Engine Index a Website?

By sending out web crawlers (also known as spiders or bots) to discover and scan pages on the internet. Once a web crawler discovers a new page, it follows the links on that page to find other pages, hence the term ‘crawling’.

As it crawls the pages of a website, it reads the content and code of each page, and then sends the information back to the search engine’s servers. The search engine’s servers then process the information and add the new pages to the search engine’s index.

There are several ways a website can assist the indexing process and make it easier for search engines to discover and crawl its pages:

• Sitemaps: A sitemap is a file that lists all the pages on a website and provides information about each page, such as when it was last updated. Search engines use sitemaps to discover new pages and to keep their index of a website up to date.
• Robots.txt: This file is used to give instructions to web crawlers about which pages or sections of a website should not be crawled or indexed.
• Meta tags: Meta tags are snippets of code that provide information about a webpage, such as its title, description, and keywords. Search engines use this information to understand the content of a page and to determine its relevance to a user’s search query.
• Backlinks: Backlinks are links from other websites to a page on your website. Search engines use the number and quality of backlinks to a page to measure the page’s relevance and authority.

By using these techniques, webmasters can help search engines discover, crawl, and index their website’s pages, making them more likely to appear in search results for relevant queries.

What Tools are Available for Search Engine Indexing?

There are several tools available for search engine indexing that can help webmasters understand and optimize their website’s visibility in search engine results. Some of the most popular FREE tools include:

• Google Search Console: This is a free tool provided by Google that allows webmasters to submit sitemaps, monitor their website’s performance in Google search results, and receive alerts for potential issues.
• Bing Webmaster Tools: This is a free tool provided by Bing that allows webmasters to submit sitemaps, monitor their website’s performance in Bing search results, and receive alerts for potential issues.
• Baidu Webmaster Tools: This is a free tool provided by Baidu, which is the largest search engine in China. It allows webmasters to submit sitemaps, monitor their website’s performance in Baidu search results, and receive alerts for potential issues.
• DuckDuckGo Webmaster Tools: This is a free tool provided by DuckDuckGo, a search engine that focuses on user privacy. It allows webmasters to submit sitemaps, monitor their website’s performance in DuckDuckGo search results, and receive alerts for potential issues.

These tools can help webmasters to understand how their website is performing in search engine results, identify potential issues, and make informed decisions about how to improve their website’s visibility in search results.

Can I Get Indexed Better by Search Engines

Yes, there are several ways to improve your website’s visibility in search engine results and get indexed better by search engines, including:

1. Optimize your website’s structure: Make sure your website’s structure is clear, logical, and easy to navigate. This will help search engines to understand the content of your website and to crawl it more effectively.
2. Use keywords: Use keywords in your website’s content, titles, descriptions, and meta tags. This will help search engines to understand the content of your website and to match it to relevant search queries.
3. Create and submit sitemaps: Sitemaps are files that list all the pages on your website and provide information about each page, such as when it was last updated. Submitting sitemaps to search engines can help them to discover new pages and to keep their index of your website up to date.
4. Create and submit robots.txt: robots.txt is a file that gives instructions to web crawlers about which pages or sections of your website should not be crawled or indexed.
5. Get backlinks: Backlinks are links from other websites to your website. The more high-quality backlinks you have, the more likely it is that your website will be seen as relevant and authoritative by search engines.
6. Use structured data: Structured data is a standardized format for providing information about a webpage to search engines. Adding structured data to your website can help search engines to understand the content of your pages and to display rich snippets in search results.
7. Keep your website updated: Regularly updating your website with fresh, high-quality content can help to keep it relevant and interesting to both search engines and users.
8. Optimize your website’s loading speed: A fast-loading website will be favoured by search engines and users alike

By following these best practices, you can improve your website’s visibility in search engine results and get indexed better by search engines. Keep in mind that Search engine optimization (SEO) is a continuous process and it’s important to keep an eye on your website’s performance and adjust as needed.

This is a huge subject, PhD’s, careers and businesses have been built around just one of these tactics!  This link will take you to several articles that give deeper insights to many of these tactics – Social Definition SEO articles

Can My Content Ever be Removed From Google, or Other Search Engines?

Yes, it is possible for content to be removed from Google and other search engines. This can happen for a variety of reasons, and here’s a link to a Google blog discussing when and why content is removed.

If the web page that contains the content is deleted or the website goes offline, the content is removed from the internet since the content simply is no longer be available to be indexed by search engines.

Content can also be deliberately blocked from the search engines by the website owner. If the website owner uses a robots.txt file or other methods to block search engines from crawling or indexing a page, then that page’s content will not be available in search results.

If your content is found to be in violation of laws or regulations, is deemed to be defamatory, obscene, or otherwise illegal it will be removed from search results for legal reasons.

Your content can be removed by the search engine index if it is found to be in violation of the search engines own guidelines. This can happen if the content is poor quality, duplicate, spammy, or if it is found to be misleading, manipulative, or deceptive.

Finally, removing content from search engines doesn’t guarantee that it will be erased from the internet, if only it were that easy! The content may still be available on other websites, duplicated or copied or as cached versions.

How Can I Get My Content Re-Indexed if It’s Been Removed?

If you find your content has been removed from a search engine’s index, there are several steps you can take to try and get it re-indexed:

1. Check the status of your website: It sounds daft but check the basics – check your website is online and accessible to search engines. If your website is down or blocked, search engines will not be able to crawl and index your content.  And, yes, we have been called in by clients to audit their website because their visitor traffic had plummeted, only to find a developer had blocked access to the website and simply forgot to remove the block.
2. Check your robots.txt file: Make sure that your robots.txt file is not blocking search engines from crawling or indexing your content. If it is, remove the block and submit a new sitemap to the search engine.  Get into the habit of regularly reviewing the file, make sure it still only contains the content you want blocked.
3. Check for broken links: Make sure that all the links on your website are working and that they lead to the correct pages. If there are broken links, search engines may not be able to crawl or index your content.  You can do this manually, or there are several online checking tools to help you.
4. Check for duplicate content: Make sure that your content is not being flagged as duplicate content by search engines. If it is, you will need to take steps to resolve the issue.  Want to know more? We have taken a deeper dive into this on our article Eliminate Duplicate Content if You Want to Boost Your SEO
5. Resubmit your sitemap: If you have made changes to your website, it’s a good idea to resubmit your sitemap to the search engine to ensure that they are aware of the new content.
6. Submit a request to the search engine: Some search engines have a process for requesting that content be re-indexed. You can submit a request through their webmaster tools or through their support channels

It’s important to note that getting your content re-indexed can take time, and the process can be different for each search engine. Also, it’s important to follow the guidelines of the search engines to avoid getting your content removed again.

Let’s Summarise

Search engine indexing is the process by which search engines catalogue and organize the billions of web pages on the internet. The index is essentially a giant library of all the pages that have been discovered by the search engine’s crawlers. Search engines index a website by sending out web crawlers (also known as spiders or bots) to discover and scan pages on the internet.

There are several tools available for search engine indexing that can help webmasters understand and optimize their website’s visibility in search engine results. Webmasters can optimize their website’s structure, use keywords, create, and submit sitemaps, create, and submit robots.txt, get backlinks, use structured data, keep their website updated and optimize their website’s loading speed.  However, it’s important to keep in mind that Search engine optimization (SEO)is a continuous process and it’s important to keep an eye on your website’s performance and adjust as needed.

If content is removed from search engines, webmasters can take steps to try and get it re-indexed, such as checking the status of the website, checking the robots.txt file, checking for broken links, checking for duplicate content, resubmitting the sitemap and submitting a request to the search engine.

Can We Help?

Search engine indexing, and the whole SEO spectrum is a big subject, there is a lot to take in and it can often become overwhelming, even for the more technically minded, so you may be looking for some help.

The articles published on the social:definition website are about everyday subjects that we deal with. We’ve done all the hard work, read the documents, and put everything into practice. We’ve learned a lot ourselves through continued research, our own development and practical experience. All this experience goes into the work we carry out for our clients, so, if we can help, we’d be only too happy to.

You can contact us directly through the form on this page or using any of the details throughout our website.

If you have any questions about search engine indexing