If you’ve ever tried to tackle your website’s SEO, you might’ve felt like you’re trying to hit a moving target in the dark. One day you’re seeing results, and the next you’re buried on page seven wondering, “What did I even do right in the first place—and how do I do more of it?” or “What is crawling and indexing? I just want to rank!”
It’s overwhelming, especially because the rules of the SEO game always seem to be changing.
But here’s the good news: You don’t have to become a tech wizard or memorize Google’s entire playbook. What you do need is a clear, simple understanding of what’s going on behind the scenes with website crawling, website indexing, and website ranking.
Knowledge is power, friend! Today, I’m giving you the inside scoop on the three key things search engines do with your website: crawling, indexing, and ranking.
By the end of this post, you’ll feel less confused and more confident about taking charge of your site’s visibility, without feeling lost in the tech-speak.
What is crawling a website?
Crawling in SEO is the first step Google takes to understand your website. Think of it like Google’s version of window shopping—they send little robots (also known as bots, spiders, or crawlers) to explore your site.
These bots discover and scan your website by following links from page to page. Every link is like a doorway that helps them uncover new pages or updates on your site. Sidenote: this is why having clear, logical navigation and internal linking is so important!
Every time you create or update content, Google’s bots swing by to see what’s new.
Pro tip! Broken links can stop crawlers in their tracks. Regularly check for broken links to ensure bots can effortlessly navigate your site.
Why Crawling Matters for Your Website
Crawling is your first step toward showing up in search results. Here’s why it matters:
- Visibility: If your site isn’t crawled, it’s invisible to Google (and your potential customers.)
- Freshness: Regular updates mean more frequent crawling, helping new content appear in search results faster.
- Finding issues: Crawlers help identify broken links or errors that might harm your SEO performance, giving you a chance to fix them.
What is indexing in SEO?
If crawling is Google taking a quick peek at your site, indexing is Google deciding your content is valuable enough to stick around.
Indexing happens when Google takes the pages it crawled and saves them in its massive database, also called the “index.” This index is like Google’s giant library. When someone types a search into Google, it doesn’t actually search the whole internet. It searches this index library to find content that best matches the search.
When Google indexes your content, it notes the keywords, structure, header tags, and even how pages relate to one another. This all works together to help the search engine quickly locate relevant results whenever someone performs a search.
Why Indexing Matters to You
Not every page Google crawls gets indexed. And if a page isn’t indexed, it won’t show up in search results, no matter how amazing your content is. Here’s why indexing matters:
- Visibility in Search Results: Indexed pages have the chance to show up in searches. Non-indexed pages? They simply won’t appear.
- Content Quality Check: If Google isn’t indexing your pages, it could mean it doesn’t see your content as valuable or unique enough to serve up in search results. (That’s your cue to revisit your content!)
- Organized SEO: Proper indexing ensures your content appears for relevant searches, connecting you directly to the audience you want to attract.
Pro tip! You can check if your pages are indexed (or find out why they’re not!) using Google Search Console.
What is Ranking in SEO?
Ranking is the final step—and the one most people think of when they hear “SEO.” This is where Google decides the order pages appear in search results.
Ranking is all about the position your website occupies when someone searches a specific term on Google. Simply put, it’s how high or low your website shows up on search engine results pages (also known as SERPs). And as you probably already guessed, higher is definitely better.
Google ranks pages based on three main things:
- Relevance: How well your content matches what the user is searching for. (Think keywords, quality, and clarity.)
- Authority: How trustworthy and reliable Google thinks your site is. (Hint: backlinks, quality content, and user engagement help build this.)
- User experience: Does your site load quickly, work on mobile, and provide a great experience?
Why Ranking Matters to You
Let’s break down why ranking is such a big deal:
- More Visibility: The higher your page ranks, the more eyes land on your website…and more eyes mean more potential clients.
- More Clicks and Traffic: Did you know the first page of Google results gets over 90% of the clicks? Ranking highly directly impacts how many people visit your site.
- Trust and Credibility: People tend to trust higher-ranking sites more. Being at the top of the search results signals to clients that you’re reputable and authoritative.
How to Check if Your Site is Crawled and Indexed
Now that you know what crawling, indexing, and ranking mean, let’s quickly talk about how to check if your website has been crawled and indexed properly. Here are two easy-to-use tools:
Google Search Console
Google Search Console is your best friend here. It’s free, easy to set up, and directly shows you which pages have been crawled and indexed by Google. Plus, you can request indexing for any new pages right away (or pages that might’ve slipped through the cracks.)
SEOmator’s Crawl Tester
Another quick tool we like is SEOmator’s Crawl Tester. It helps confirm if a specific URL is crawlable and indexable by search engines, highlighting any issues that might keep your site from being seen.
Pro Tip! Regularly checking your indexing status helps ensure your SEO efforts are paying off and your pages are visible to potential clients.
How to improve website crawling, indexing, and ranking
Understanding what crawling, indexing, and ranking are is great, but knowing how to actually improve them? Even better. Here are a few approachable and practical steps you can take today to help search engines find and show off your content more effectively:
Create and submit your sitemap
A sitemap is like giving Google a literal map to your website, helping crawlers quickly find and index your most important pages. You can easily create one using a WordPress SEO plugin like Rank Math, and then submit it directly through Google Search Console.
Optimize your internal linking
Internal links help Google bots navigate through your site and understand how your content connects. Every new blog or page you publish should link thoughtfully to other relevant pages on your site.
Check for broken links and errors
Broken links and pages that return errors (like 404 pages) stop crawlers in their tracks. Regularly auditing your website for broken links (tools like Broken Link Checker make it simple!) and fixing them ASAP keeps the crawling process smooth and efficient.
Publish quality content consistently
Regularly publishing high-quality, keyword-optimized content signals to Google that your site is active and relevant. Fresh content encourages frequent crawling and indexing, helping you rank higher in search results.
Don’t forget to monitor website performance!
Tracking your progress is also incredibly important for improving your website’s crawling, indexing, and ranking. Here are three simple (and totally manageable!) ways to stay on top of your site’s performance:
Keep using Google Search Console
Google Search Console is your new best friend. It’ll show you exactly how Google sees your site, alert you to any indexing errors, and even suggest improvements.
Check index coverage regularly
Use Google Search Console’s “Coverage” report regularly to spot pages that aren’t indexing correctly. Keep an eye out for errors and warnings, fix them promptly, and you’ll help Google index your content faster.
Track your keyword rankings
Check your keyword rankings monthly using tools like Ubersuggest. Knowing which keywords you’re ranking for (and which ones you’re not!) helps you make smart content decisions.
That’s the basics on website crawling, indexing, and ranking!
Understanding website crawling, indexing, and ranking doesn’t mean you have to be super techy. All you need is a little know-how and consistency. Knowing how search engines interact with your site empowers you to make informed, strategic decisions.
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