Ranking on Google Part 1: How & Why?

How Does Google Rank & Index Search Results? 

There are on average over 63,000 searches happening on Google at any given second. 

That’s around 2 trillion searches a year. 

As I’m sure you can imagine without some sort of indexing system, sifting through all this would take a lifetime.

So Google uses many complex algorithms to rank your results. Multiple factors influence these algorithms.

These factors include: 

• What words are in the query and how well it matches the content on the pages.
• How credible the sources for your information are, as well as how many quality links you have from other sites.
• Your location so Google knows where to show your page and where to show results from.
• How relevant the pages of the site are to the content you’re searching for is also important, if your information is mismatched you’ll rank much lower.
• Competition also plays a big part, Google constantly compares your website against similar content from competitors, updating the rankings based on the factors above as well as more subtle factors like engagement time with the content. 

Different factors also bear different importance depending on the type of search. This is called weighting.

For example, a topical search like ‘football results’ would have freshness as a weighted factor, so most recent results come up first.

Why do People Search on Google to Begin With?

Mainly to find answers to their questions!

Wikipedia for example, rank highly so often because they provide such detailed answers to so many questions. This encourages more links back to their website, lots of depth of content, and higher engagement time, making them a trusted site that ranks consistently well.

Whatever industry you’re in, people have questions. So ranking higher on Google is about creating the best information to answer your customers’ questions. 

The Secret: Creating the Best Answers on the Internet.

Creating the best answers on the internet is no mean feat. It takes research on your subject matter, and on the existing answers to your questions, to ensure you can actually improve on your competitors’ answers. 

We think identifying your customer base’s 10 most important questions is the perfect place to start.

By doing this effectively, you get to the nub of what your customers need and the problems they encounter.

Therefore you can start fulfilling those needs with your answers.

Once you’ve identified these questions, critiquing existing answers allows you to improve on these answers and provide more useful information!

Keep your eyes peeled for the second part of this article, where we’ll take a more in depth look at composing the BEST answers on the internet. Before the next instalment, see if you can figure out the 10 most important questions for YOUR customers are asking!

Don’t forget to give us a follow on LinkedIn for regular advice and information about growing your business. However if you just can't wait for part 2, click on the link below for a full blog post about ranking on Google and how to create the best answers on the internet! 

https://www.lexisclick.com/blog/how-to-rank-on-google-create-the-best-answer-available