What is SERP Ranking?

When users type in a search query, websites are ranked and displayed by most relevant to least relevant. For the most part, search results on the first page are typically deemed more relevant by the search engine than results on the fifth page. 

You may be wondering how search engines determine relevance. That’s where algorithms come into play. The Google algorithm is constantly changing and being updated to enhance the experience for users conducting searches online. Over time, the search engine has gotten better at delivering what people are looking for.

What is more, search engines have gotten smarter at detecting techniques like keyword stuffing, wherein you cram the word or phrase more times than necessary on a webpage in an attempt to trick the bot into ranking your site higher. Avoid trying to deceive search engines and instead write with readers in mind.

If you want to rank higher, you need to build backlinks and add more internal links to your site. Backlinks are links from other websites to another site. To determine which sites are trustworthy and relevant, search engines consider the quality and quantity of backlinks. 

How does Google work?

It might seem like search engines work in mysterious ways. Put simply, this is how Google works:

• It looks for content related to a user’s search.
• When crawling websites, search engines take into consideration many factors such as keywords.
• It displays websites in order of relevancy according to the quality and value offered to users.

Are you in Google’s index?

You should know whether your site is showing on Google and other search engines. Type in your site’s home URL and see if there are any results. In the event that you don’t see any search results for your website, Google has likely missed crawling it. Some reasons you may not appear in the index include:

• You just created a new site, and Google hasn’t crawled it yet. In this case, you don’t have to do anything. Just wait and give the search engine time to find your website.
• Your website isn’t linked or connected to other sites, so Google has trouble finding your site. You can add internal links, which are links to other pages on your site. You could also try to get external links, where other sites link to your posts and pages.
• The design of the website makes it hard for Google to crawl the content. Make tweaks to the design, and check to see if your site’s policy is blocking search engines from crawling it.