If you are curious about how Google’s search index is arranged, the company has published a new blog to explain just that. The end goal, of course, is to sort information in a manner that makes it easy to scan and comprehend. However, to say that it’s a challenging task would be an understatement.
Back when it wasn’t the tech giant that it is today, Google used to update its search engine once every month. However, with the volume of information increasing massively, the search index now remains in a state of getting updated at all times.
When it comes to organizing the information, the Search Engine Results Pages get presented in a manner relevant to the type of details being looked up. A person seeking a job opportunity would be presented with posts touting job vacancies. On the other hand, a person searching for the best restaurants in the neighborhood will be presented with a map.
For easy scanning, Google boasts several features such as news carousels, star reviews, rich imagery for recipe-related queries, etc.
The inclusion of rich features has not only made it easier for the publishers to get an opportunity to show up on the first page, but it has also done a great job of presenting the results in a highly visible way.
As per Google, its attempts at improving the quality of results have resulted in people spending more time on the pages that they search for.
It should also be noted here that an alternative way for Google to sort the information in a way that would make it valuable for the users is by ranking/placing the most relevant results first.
According to Google, its ranking systems take various factors into consideration e.g., content freshness, similar words, etc. This helps the search engine in finding out the results that would closely relate to the searcher’s intention, in case a single undisputed answer to a query isn’t available.
For example, if someone searches for pizza, there could be a number of options that could be displayed such as the flavors, recipes, locations of nearby pizza joints, etc. However, Google has comprehended that people are more likely to be looking for a pizza restaurant to dine in when they search the term “pizza”. This is why a list of nearby pizza restaurants has the highest probability to appear at the top in this case.
In the end, the tech giant stated that the ranking isn’t static since the meanings of different terms and queries change on a daily basis. And to keep up with these changes is what Google has been striving for.
Read next: Google May Start Doing Away With Your Drive Data
Back when it wasn’t the tech giant that it is today, Google used to update its search engine once every month. However, with the volume of information increasing massively, the search index now remains in a state of getting updated at all times.
When it comes to organizing the information, the Search Engine Results Pages get presented in a manner relevant to the type of details being looked up. A person seeking a job opportunity would be presented with posts touting job vacancies. On the other hand, a person searching for the best restaurants in the neighborhood will be presented with a map.
For easy scanning, Google boasts several features such as news carousels, star reviews, rich imagery for recipe-related queries, etc.
The inclusion of rich features has not only made it easier for the publishers to get an opportunity to show up on the first page, but it has also done a great job of presenting the results in a highly visible way.
As per Google, its attempts at improving the quality of results have resulted in people spending more time on the pages that they search for.
It should also be noted here that an alternative way for Google to sort the information in a way that would make it valuable for the users is by ranking/placing the most relevant results first.
According to Google, its ranking systems take various factors into consideration e.g., content freshness, similar words, etc. This helps the search engine in finding out the results that would closely relate to the searcher’s intention, in case a single undisputed answer to a query isn’t available.
For example, if someone searches for pizza, there could be a number of options that could be displayed such as the flavors, recipes, locations of nearby pizza joints, etc. However, Google has comprehended that people are more likely to be looking for a pizza restaurant to dine in when they search the term “pizza”. This is why a list of nearby pizza restaurants has the highest probability to appear at the top in this case.
In the end, the tech giant stated that the ranking isn’t static since the meanings of different terms and queries change on a daily basis. And to keep up with these changes is what Google has been striving for.
Read next: Google May Start Doing Away With Your Drive Data
