Before learning SEO tactics, you need to understand how search engines think.
Imagine you want your book to be in a library. To get readers:
- The librarian must find your book.
- The librarian must understand what it’s about.
- The librarian must recommend it to the right readers.
That’s exactly how search engines work.
1: Crawling (Finding Your Website)
Search engines use bots (crawlers or spiders) that travel across the internet, discovering new websites and pages.
- Example: A crawler sees a new blog post about “roofing tips” and adds it to its list.
If your site isn’t crawlable → search engines won’t even know it exists.
2: Indexing (Understanding Your Website)
Once crawlers find your site, they store it in Google’s massive database (the index).
- Here, Google reads your content, keywords, images, and links.
- Think of this like a library storing books with detailed notes on each.
3: Ranking (Recommending Your Website)
When someone searches, Google instantly looks into its index and ranks results based on:
- Relevance → Does your content match the search?
- Authority → Do other trusted sites link to you?
- User Experience → Is your site fast, mobile-friendly, and easy to use?
The best results show up on page 1.
Example:
- Search: “best running shoes.”
- Google crawled hundreds of shoe store sites → indexed their pages → and ranked the ones that seem most helpful, trustworthy, and user-friendly.
If a site loads slowly or has poor content, it won’t make page 1.
FAQs:
Does Google show every website it crawls?
No. Low-quality or spammy sites may not be indexed.
How often do search engines crawl websites?
It depends. Popular sites may be crawled daily, while small blogs could be crawled weekly or monthly.
Can I force Google to crawl my site?
Yes — using tools like Google Search Console, you can request indexing.
Activity for You:
👉 Go to Google Search Console (free tool).
- If you own a website, submit your sitemap.
- If not, pick any website you like, search “site:domain.com” (e.g.,
site:bbc.com) in Google to see how many pages are indexed.
So,
Search engines are like super-fast librarians. They crawl, index, and rank websites to give users the best possible answers.
Now that you know how they work, the next step is to understand different types of SEO and where each fits in this process.