Spiders to read the website

It is important to know exactly how a search engine works. With Google, we don't know exactly, because that is a trade secret. But Google does indicate in general terms how the search engine works. The first thing a search engine does is read websites. A search engine does this with a spider, also called a (web)crawler. A spider is a computer specialized in reading websites. Google has many of these spiders.

 

 

A spider follows links

How does a spider know where to go? By following links. Google knows a large number of websites. Suppose such an existing website links to a new website, or new page, the spider follows this link and thus includes the new website. To be included quickly, it is therefore good to ensure that several links to your new website can be found.

And what about existing websites? The spider visits every so often. In the beginning, this is approximately every week. If Google notices over time that new content is often posted on the website, spiders will visit your website more often and you will be included faster. That is why an up-to-date website is very important!

Web page loading time is important

Also important to know is that a spider only has limited time for your website. If your website has many pages or if your website is slow and contains messy texts, recording a page takes much longer. You then run the risk that the spider cannot record all pages or changes at once. The website technology and the website structure must therefore be in order. This gives a spider a faster overview.

The jury's verdict

Once the spider has gathered all the content, Google will judge the content. Are there many links to this content (is this good information according to many people)? That is positive. Is this text structured? That is also positive for the ranking of the page. Am I as a search engine being fooled by the makers of this website? For example, have they used keywords that are not related to the subject of the website? Have they used tricks, such as hiding keywords from visitors? Those are definitely points against. Your website might even be banned from the index if Google notices this.

Over 200 factors Google looks at

All in all, there are over 200 factors used to judge the content of your website. Some factors, such as links and Social Media recommendations (Likes on Facebook and Tweets on Twitter) weigh more heavily than text structure, a beautiful URL or a meta description. It is best to take all these factors into account when creating a website. Because the more factors prove that your website is about a certain topic, the better the page will score in Google.

The rule of thumb in SEO is that if you as a website owner can easily influence something, such as the text, it is less important to Google. Things you cannot easily influence, such as the age of a page, the number of links and the number of likes, weigh more heavily.

It can take up to 8 weeks!

And then your website or page appears in Google, finally. Sometimes it takes as long as eight weeks to get your entire website into Google. That naturally depends on the factors mentioned above. Because how easy is the website to read and how quickly does Google notice it because the spider encounters a link to your website?