Crawling and Indexing: Key Components of Search Engine Optimization

For most websites, ranking highly in search results is the most important way to secure more traffic. While there are other methods of generating and capturing leads, search engine optimization (SEO) is still one of the most reliable methods to make or break a website’s ability to get noticed and stay relevant.

If you’re already familiar with SEO tactics, you know about keywords and content relevance. But how does a search engine like Google actually know whether your site is worthy of a top spot in the rankings? Well, it all comes down to crawling and indexing. While you don’t have to master these elements yourself, knowing how they work can help you boost your site’s optimization. Here’s everything you need to know.

How Do Search Engines Work?

According to Google, its search engine works in three stages: crawling, indexing, and presenting results. While Google isn’t the only search engine you can use, it does capture the most traffic, so it practically sets the standard for how other engines operate. Let’s break down each stage and how it affects your site’s online presence.

Crawling Websites: How Google Sees a Page

While it’s hard to keep an accurate number, in 2021 it was estimated that there were 1.8 billion websites across the entire internet, and that number has only kept growing. As you can imagine, searching and cataloging such an expansive database of information is impossible to do by hand. Instead, Google and other search engines use digital robots and “spiders” to crawl around the internet and discover new pages. Crawling simply means that the spider scans the page to see what it’s about (and determine which keywords may fit for it).

The main algorithm that oversees the crawling process is called Googlebot, and it scans billions of pages every day. The two purposes of crawling are to discover new pages that didn’t exist before and to verify that old pages are still active and relevant. The algorithm uses many variables to determine which pages to crawl and how often, and Google is adamant that all websites are treated equally.

Google has always been tight-lipped about how its algorithm works, but the company updates it all the time. Unfortunately, updates can affect rankings and SEO, leaving developers and webmasters scrambling to figure out how to adapt to the new update as quickly as possible.

Although Googlebot scans billions of pages, it can’t crawl everything. For example, pages with added security features may block spiders, or the server hosting the page may have issues that prevent crawling. That said, if Google can’t crawl a page, it won’t feature it in search results.

Indexation: Creating a Database of Pages

While crawling is the process of looking at different web pages, Google indexing is all about sorting them into different websites and hierarchies. For example, your website may have dozens of unique pages connected to the same base URL. Without indexing, it would be impossible to tell which pages are related to which site, rendering search engines useless.

That said, not all pages will be part of the Google index. For example, there may be multiple URLs for the same page. Because there are duplicates, Google determines which one is “canonical” and indexes that. Canonicalization is an entire process that can help make your site easier to crawl and index.

Although Google doesn’t index all pages on the internet, it only displays indexed pages in search results. So, if there are issues with your site that prevent indexation, you’ll struggle to capture any traffic.

Common Issues With Crawling and Indexation

For some sites, indexing and crawlability issues are easily fixed with a proactive SEO approach. Here are some common roadblocks sites can experience and how to fix them:

• No Sitemap – While you don’t have to submit a sitemap to Google, it’s always a good idea. A sitemap simply contains all the pages of your site and their hierarchy. As long as your pages and internal links match the sitemap, Google shouldn’t have any issues with crawling or indexing them.
• Orphaned Pages – Sometimes, Googlebot can’t find a page or can’t figure out how to get from one page to another. Orphaned pages are those that are only accessible by typing the URL into the search bar rather than clicking a link from a directory or home page. Typically, you don’t want to have orphaned pages on your site.
• Blocked by Robots.txt – If your website contains sensitive information, you may want to prevent Googlebot from crawling and indexing it. Robots.txt allows you to prevent spiders from accessing certain pages. However, sometimes, this code may not be configured correctly, so pages that should be indexed are shut out because of a robots.txt error.
• Hidden Behind Logins – Finally, if a section of your site is encrypted and only accessible via a login, Googlebot won’t be able to access it. Realistically, this shouldn’t be a problem since you want to keep those pages secure. After all, if someone could circumvent your login protections by accessing the page via Google, that defeats the whole purpose of encryption.

Overall, the best way to avoid common indexation issues is to have a clean website architecture and an up-to-date sitemap. You should also focus on canonicalization if you’re worried about duplicate content or URLs affecting your search rankings. It’s always a good idea to run a site audit regularly to spot any errors like broken links or non-indexable pages.

Google Search Console is a free tool you can use to spot any errors immediately. Plus, because these errors are coming from Google, you know that fixing them can significantly impact your search ranking. Although you’ll get a detailed report, keep in mind that 400 errors have to do with how you’ve configured your site, while 500 errors refer to problems with the internal server (e.g., the spiders are crawling a page too fast).

Ranking: How Search Engines Decide Who’s On Top

Because of how much traffic Google has on a given day (roughly 8.5 billion daily), the Google ranking algorithm can make or break your website. This algorithm determines which pages rank on top of a particular search result. As a rule, only the top three to five links get the majority of web traffic, and the remaining results compete for the minuscule scraps left over.

But how does the algorithm know which page to put in the first place? Some common search engine ranking factors include:

• Relevance – How relevant is the link compared to the search query?
• Domain Authority – How trustworthy is the site?
• Security – Is the link safe to use?

The simple acronym is EAT, or expertise, authority, and trust. The higher a page ranks on the EAT score, the more likely it’ll get the coveted top spot on a search engine results page (SERP).

Actionable Steps for Better Optimization

Knowing all about Google indexing and crawling is one thing, but how easy is it to create a clean website hierarchy and sitemap? If your site is relatively new, you may be able to handle this process on your own. However, if your site is old and messy, it’s often better to rely on advanced SEO solutions from a third party like CSP. Contact us today and talk with our SEO experts for advice on optimizing your site for better results.