What Is Indexing, How Do Search Engines Do It?
In the crawling stage, search engines explore various sites on the internet through the URLs they find.
Indexing is an important part of search engines. The term works side by side with its two counterparts, namely crawling and ranking.
These three things become one unit in the work of search engine optimization (SEO).
The reason is, if a website is not indexed properly, the site will be difficult to appear on the search engine result page (SERP).
Actually, what is indexing and how does it work? How do I get a website to enter Google's index?
In this article, The Round has prepared the complete information for you. Come on, see the following explanation!
Definition of Indexing
You may often find the word 'indexing' on various occasions, including in data processing. In this article, The Round will only discuss indexing in search engines.
Quoted from Moz, indexing is the process of storing and organizing content found by search engines during the crawling process.
Meanwhile, according to DeepCrawl, indexing is the process when search engines organize information before searching.
So, when someone searches with a keyword, it is easy for search engines to find relevant sites.
Indexing or web indexing is one part of search engine performance. Broadly speaking, the work of a search engine consists of three stages, namely crawling, indexing, and ranking.
In the crawling stage, search engines explore various sites on the internet through the URLs they find.
The next stage is indexing, when search engines store and organize content on various sites.
Then ranking occurs, which is when search engines display content that best meets user expectations.
Later, the results of the indexing process will be a source of data on search engines. When you search for something with a keyword, search engines will look for the content you mean in their index.
If you are still confused, you can imagine a database in a library. There, of course, there is data that includes the title of the book, the author, and the year of publication of a book.
When you search for a book in the database, you will find a book that matches your expectations. This can happen because the librarian has indexed the books in the library.
There are various things that are generally included in the Google index, namely URLs, text, images, videos, and all HTML URL codes.
How Indexing Works
Indexing is a process carried out by the search engines themselves, including Google.
Broadly speaking, the way indexing works begins with the content analysis process.
Search engines will analyze the keywords on a website and make sure that these keywords are relevant to the content.
Then, web crawlers and web spiders visit various pages on a website and collect information on them.
The findings from the web crawler then become an index, as quoted from AddSearch.
When you do a search with a keyword, the search engines will display all the results contained in their index.
You don't need to confuse the difference between indexing and ranking.
Indexing or index is something that is static. The content of the search engine index will not change.
Meanwhile, ranking is something dynamic. There are various things that affect the ranking of a website on search engines.
Learnmore: 7 Ways to Speed Up Google's Index Process so Your Site Ranks Immediately
How to Google Index
1. Take advantage of Google Search Console
The best way to get into the Google index is to use SEO tools, one of which is Google Search Console.
This Google product has a myriad of benefits that you can enjoy for free.
You can monitor crawling, index errors, and website security.
In addition, you can include your website so that it is easily indexed by Google.
2. Create content
Whatever type of website you have, make sure there is quality content in it. Create content that is relevant to your website.
The reason is, Google will find it easier to crawl a website that has content. So, your website will be indexed by Google more easily.
3. Expand internal links
Just creating content is not enough. You need to complement your content with internal links.
Quoted from Backlinko, an internal link is a hyperlink of a word in your content that refers to another page in the same domain.
4. Get backlinks
Indexing is a process that deals a lot with content, including links. Therefore, internal links are not enough.
You still need to get backlinks as a way to get into the Google index.
In short, backlinks are links that are on a website and point to your website, as quoted from Ahrefs.
If there are other websites that provide a link to your website, you get a backlink from them.
Quality backlinks are very important in indexing because Google will see it as a quality website as well.
Learnmore: How to link building for better website rankings
5. Create a sitemap
The next way to get in the Google index is to create an XML sitemap.
An XML sitemap is a list of web pages created for search engines to make them easier to find.
Image: Yoast.com