{"id":19822,"date":"2020-01-28T14:10:11","date_gmt":"2020-01-28T14:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/glosario-digital\/google-algorithm"},"modified":"2026-10-02T11:30:53","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T11:30:53","slug":"google-algorithm","status":"publish","type":"encyclopedia","link":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/google-algorithm","title":{"rendered":"Google algorithm"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/47..jpg\" alt=\"Google algorithm\" class=\"boxpad alignright\" style=\"margin-top:0\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><strong>Definition:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The <strong>Google algorithm<\/strong> is the common name for the set of automated systems Google uses to select and rank search results. These systems analyse different signals to provide relevant and useful information in response to a query.<\/p>\n<p>Although it is often described as a single algorithm, it involves technologies with different functions: understanding the search, interpreting content, analysing links or detecting spam. These systems evolve, and there is no complete public formula for calculating a page&#8217;s position.<\/p>\n\n<h2>How it relates to the way the search engine works<\/h2>\n<p>To understand rankings, it helps to distinguish three stages of Google Search:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Crawling:<\/strong> Googlebot visits pages and downloads their content when it can access them.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Indexing:<\/strong> Google analyses the content and decides what information to include in its index.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Serving results:<\/strong> in response to a query, its systems select and rank information from the index based on relevance and other criteria.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>A page may have been crawled without being indexed. Similarly, being indexed does not guarantee appearing for a particular search or occupying a specific position.<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/sitemap\">sitemap<\/a> can help discover URLs, but does not guarantee their indexing or improve their ranking on its own.<\/p>\n<h2>What Google&#8217;s systems consider<\/h2>\n<p>The importance of each signal depends on the query and context. Relevant aspects include the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Meaning of the search:<\/strong> the systems try to understand what the user needs to find, including relationships between words and concepts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Content relevance:<\/strong> they evaluate whether a page addresses the query. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/keyword\">Keywords<\/a> help describe the topic, but there is no need to repeat every expression in a search verbatim.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Quality and reliability:<\/strong> different signals are used to identify useful and reliable information, rather than a single score visible to the website owner.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Relationships between pages:<\/strong> link analysis helps interpret content and its relationship with other sources.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Page experience:<\/strong> Core Web Vitals are used in ranking systems, although good scores do not guarantee top positions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Query context:<\/strong> factors such as language and location can influence the results.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Freshness of information:<\/strong> some searches require recent content; others can be answered with information that remains valid even if it was published some time ago.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Updating a page&#8217;s date or adding keywords does not guarantee an improvement.<\/strong> Changes should provide genuine value and describe the content accurately.<\/p>\n<h2>Some ranking systems<\/h2>\n<p>The different systems perform complementary functions. <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/appearance\/ranking-systems-guide?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google&#8217;s guide to ranking systems<\/a> describes the following, among others:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>PageRank and link analysis:<\/strong> these help interpret how pages relate to one another and which may be useful for a query. PageRank has evolved since the search engine&#8217;s early years.<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/google-bert\">BERT<\/a>:<\/strong> this helps understand how combinations of words express meanings and intentions.<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/rankbrain\">RankBrain<\/a>:<\/strong> this relates words to concepts to identify relevant content, even when it does not contain exactly the same terms as the search.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Spam detection systems:<\/strong> these identify content and behaviour that violate Google&#8217;s policies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These names do not represent independent factors with fixed weights that can be added together. Nor do they constitute a complete list of all the technologies used.<\/p>\n<h2>What algorithm updates are<\/h2>\n<p>Google continually improves its systems. Some broad changes are announced as <strong>core updates<\/strong>, while others affect specific systems or functions.<\/p>\n<p>A core update can change the relative assessment of results. <strong>Losing positions does not, by itself, demonstrate that a penalty exists or that a page violates Google&#8217;s policies.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Manual actions are different: they are applied following a human review that detects a violation and are communicated through the corresponding report in Search Console.<\/p>\n<p>If a decline is observed, update dates should be compared with page and query data. Technical changes, indexing issues, seasonality and changes in the search results themselves should also be reviewed.<\/p>\n<h2>What this means for SEO<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/seo-agency-spain\">Search engine optimisation<\/a> aims to help search engines access and understand content, so they can show it when it meets a user&#8217;s need.<\/p>\n<p>This includes creating useful information, using descriptive titles, maintaining a navigable structure and reviewing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/backlink\">inbound links<\/a> without resorting to manipulation.<\/p>\n<p>A useful recommendation should be distinguished from a confirmed ranking factor. Meta descriptions can be used to form the result snippet, but are not a direct ranking factor. Similarly, Search Console CTR, bounce rate or engagement time in Analytics do not, on their own, reveal how Google evaluates a page.<\/p>\n<p>Understanding the systems helps inform decisions; it does not make it possible to guarantee positions. The priority is to address readers&#8217; needs and maintain an accessible, clear and technically sound website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What the Google algorithm is: ranking systems, signals, updates and differences between crawling, indexing and ranking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":79401,"template":"","encyclopedia-tag":[1432,1249],"class_list":["post-19822","encyclopedia","type-encyclopedia","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","encyclopedia-tag-google-algorithm-updates","encyclopedia-tag-search-algorithms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia\/19822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/encyclopedia"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"encyclopedia-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia-tag?post=19822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}