SEO 101: What's an Algorithm?

What's an "algorithm"?

Most SEO content presumes prior knowledge of algorithms and specific knowledge of search engine algorithms. At The Organic SEO Blog we define most jargon words in each post. However, the word algorithm is so ubiquitous we tend to presume, like other SEO publications, prior knowledge.

Perhaps we shouldn't. Over the years we've received more than a few emails (mostly from small online shops) asking, "What's an algorithm?" or "What's the algorithm?"

However similar, these questions speak to two different points. Below I answer each in detail.

What's an Algorithm?

Many people have a sense of algorithms, though some feel the same way as Jacob Brogan, who admitted on Slate: "Can I level with you? I’m not always sure I know what people are talking about when they say algorithm?"

Despite his confessed ignorance, I like Brogan's definition for algorithm: "A set of guidelines that describe how to perform a task."

Read: "What’s the Deal With Algorithms?"

Simple, right? Perhaps in application but not in consequence.

In one sense, algorithms rule our world, yet algorithms contain implicit biases. We tend to see algorithms as neutral. Yes, engineers base algorithms on mathematical principles, but most judgements about those principles are exactly that--judgements, made by biased humans. 

Read: "On Algorithm Bias"

Algorithm bias influences your Facebook feed--and more. 

Yet algorithms, which are inescapable, benefit our lives. As a TopCoder article notes:

"Almost everything that you do with a computer relies in some way on an algorithm that someone has worked very hard to figure out. Even the simplest application on a modern computer would not be possible without algorithms being utilized behind the scenes to manage memory and load data from the hard drive."

Of all algorithms, though, one specific algorithm gets a lot of attention--and especially in the SEO world.

What's the Algorithm?

In SEO circles, the algorithm is Google's algorithm--the guidelines that makes the search community go round.

Google "refreshes" its algorithms monthly, but "updates" are less frequent, and more consequential. Talk of Google's algorithm is a daily affair, yet it is often misunderstood. So what's Google's algorithm?

A few years ago Google's John Mueller wrote this comment in a help thread:

"In practice, a site is never in a void alone with just a single algorithm. We use over 200 factors in crawling, indexing, and ranking."

This comment is simple, yet profound, and it strikes to the heart of Google's algorithm: a system for crawling, indexing, and ranking websites.

Viewing these three functions separately offers a helpful view of exactly why algorithms--and SEO firms--exist. In next week's article, I'll discuss each in turn: crawling, indexing, and ranking.

In the meantime, if you're looking for more information on algorithms, try Google itself. If you're looking for a more philosophical view of algorithms, please read: "A Frank Look at Algorithms." For a more topical view of algorithms, try: "Algorithms Have Consequences."

Making SEO Simple for Local Businesses: Stepman's SEO

If you'd like to speak directly to an SEO specialist who understands the complexity of algorithms, call me, Alex Stepman, of Stepman's SEO: 215-900-9398.

Stepman's SEO offers a full range of online marketing services to help you work with the search engine algorithms--not just Google, but every algorithm.