As one of the top search engines in the world, Google is extremely efficient at searching, organizing, storing, and serving relevant content to users. In fact, Internet users around the world rely on Google and other search engines to perform these functions without much consideration for how the process works. Businesses owners and digital marketing teams, on the other hand, need to understand these concepts to ensure their business websites are effective. If a website is to be seen by consumers online it needs to be indexed by Google. But, what exactly does this mean and how does Google go about indexing websites?
Michel Bernard is all too familiar with Google indexing. As a digital marketing expert, Michel has spent years developing his skills in the industry. He started his career in the world of digital marketing as a copywriter, working for numerous ad firms in Toronto. During his time as a writer, Michel gained a great deal of experience and was given the opportunity to learn from some of the industry’s leading talents. After years of working for ad firms, Bernard decided to expand his skillset within the marketing and advertising sector. Eventually, he developed a large client base and started his own digital marketing firm. Today, he and his team provide top quality, creative marketing solutions for businesses in the Gatineau/Outaouais region of Quebec. Speaking from experience, he describes what Google indexing is and why it is so important for a business website.
What is Google Indexing?
Google indexing refers to Google’s process of organizing and storing data about websites across the Internet. Indexing is completed with the help of website crawlers, or bots, that scan and analyze web content before it is stored. The content collected by these crawlers is stored in the Google Search index, a huge database that contains all the information that the crawlers have considered worthy of sharing with Google’s users, says Michel Bernard. Various types of data are stored in Google’s search index, including details regarding keywords and how recently the content on a website has been published. According to Google, the Google search index is over 100,000,000 gigabytes and contains billions of webpages.
How Google Indexing Works
In order to find the best websites on the Internet and deliver relevant content to users, Google must sift through millions and millions of websites. To do this, Google uses web crawlers that search through each website looking for information. Google’s crawlers look for data to tell them what the site is about and even to establish how trustworthy it is.
Michel Bernard explains that the web crawlers start with a list of URLs. As they crawl these webpages, they follow links on them to other pages, developing a network of interconnected content. As they move from link to link, they gather data about each page, including information about its content and the code behind it. Before indexing a website and storing its information in the Google search index, the crawlers look at several aspects to ensure the site is worthy of sharing with searchers. Some of these properties include features that viewers can see and interact with, such as the layout and navigation of the site and whether it contains spam. In addition, the crawlers look at several aspects that can only be found in the backend of a website. This includes metadata which tells Google’s search bots what type of content they can expect to find on the website. Once the crawlers have established that the site is worthy of sharing, they take this information back to Google’s servers. There it is organized and stored in Google’s search index. It is this storing and organizing of web content that is referred to as indexing.
Michel Bernard Explains Why Being Indexed by Google is Important
When serving results to online searchers, Google pulls content that it deems to be most relevant and trustworthy from the Google search index. Once a webpage has been indexed it will be a viable candidate to be served when a relevant search query is presented to Google. This is why it’s so important for business websites to be indexed, notes Michel Bernard. If they are not indexed by Google they will have no chance of being shown in relevant search queries.
However, just because a business website has been indexed does not mean it will rank well in Google’s search returns. When ranking websites, Google determines which sites and pages are most relevant to the user’s search and offer the best quality content. Therefore, ranking high in search results requires additional steps above and beyond ensuring a site is indexed. This is the job of digital marketing teams and search engine optimization (SEO).
The first step in search engine optimization is to have your business website indexed. If business owners can have their site indexed by Google and listed as a top result in the search returns, there are various benefits to be had. These benefits include increased traffic, lead generation, more customers and clients, and, as a result, increased sales.
When a website is listed high in Google’s search returns, it can be found by more people. This means that you can expect more visitors to your site, simply as a result of seeing it pop up in Google’s returns. In addition, an increase in traffic helps to improve rankings — helping you to climb even higher in the search results. As a result of increased traffic, more people will learn about and become interested in your products or services. This means more phone calls, more form submissions, and more potential customers. If your business website is set up to collect leads and to convert visitors to customers, you can expect an increase in new business. Michel Bernard notes that all of these benefits stem from simply having your business website indexed by Google. Therefore, a focus on developing a user-friendly, helpful website with accurate and up-to-date content is essential for any business.