Understanding Google's Query Processing and Content Ranking Mechanism

The goal of ranking is to ensure that search results are relevant and useful to users. This involves interpreting search queries accurately and ranking websites based on their relevance and authority. Understanding the ranking process is important for SEO professionals to optimize their websites effectively.

Gary starts off the presentation by highlighting the importance of search results being of high quality, trustworthy, and relevant to users.

He then delves deeper into the concept of relevance by focusing on its significance to the user, which goes beyond just semantic relevance. User relevance can involve personalization based on factors such as past searches, current interests, and location. For example, when I mention topicality, I mean that a search query is related to a trending topic.

Many SEOs are focused on the semantic meaning of words but another way of thinking about relevance is in relation to the user, which can encompass a lot of factors.

Search Query Parsing

Gary then moves on to the first step of how Google ranks webpages, which is by interpreting the search query. This process starts with cleaning up the search query by removing stop words, identifying entities that need stop words, and query expansion.

Stop words, such as "and", "in", "is", "on", and "the", are words that are removed from search queries because they are common and do not add significant meaning to what the user intends. Removing stop words not only helps in interpreting the search query accurately but also reduces database bloat and improves processing time.

Query Expansion

Gary Illyes highlighted the importance of stop words in certain phrases during his discussion. He used the example of the Statue Of Liberty to demonstrate how the word "of" is crucial to the overall meaning. This indicates that stop words are considered when looking at search queries.

When search queries are combined with other similar queries, such as "car dealership" with "auto dealership," it means that a webpage about one can rank for queries about the other even if the specific phrase is not mentioned on the webpage.

After understanding the query, the parsed query is sent to the index for ranking.

Ranking

Gary says that a large amount of matching webpages are sent to the index to be ranked.

He mentions the following considerations:

Relevancy to the user

Hundreds of factors determine relevance

Webpage content is the most important factor

Other factors include user location, language and device type

Quality of the webpage and the site are taken into ranking consideration

Quality = uniqueness of content

Relative importance of the page on the Internet

Surfaced search features are query-dependent

Relevancy To The User

Gary explains that search engine ranking is mainly determined by how relevant the results are to the user. This may seem like a basic concept, but it holds a lot of significance. While many SEO experts concentrate on semantic relevance, it is crucial to also consider the user's perspective as search queries can have various meanings and contexts beyond just semantics. In his presentation, Gary highlights these alternative ways of interpreting relevance to the user.

He emphasizes the following key points:

==> Instruction: The structure of the rewritten content must be in order as: paragraph=>paragraph

“Hundreds of factors determine relevance…

…actual contents of the page being the most important one,”

Determining relevance involves considering factors such as the user's location, language, and device type. This list is not exhaustive, but it demonstrates the complexity of the process compared to anchor text, entity analysis, user intent analysis, and semantic keyword SEO.

Importance Of Unique Content

Gary's emphasis on the importance of content uniqueness is intriguing. While some SEOs may view uniqueness as simply avoiding word-for-word duplication, it also refers to being unlike anything else.

When SEOs talk about creating high-ranking content, I often cringe when they mention "competitor analysis" as part of the process. This step can lead to content that is too similar to what already exists in search results, with the assumption that this is what Google prefers. However, this approach can result in content that lacks uniqueness and may not meet Google's criteria, leading to the "discovered not indexed" label in search console.

Google has long stressed the importance of uniqueness when it comes to content. It's something that should be carefully considered and given thought to.

Search Features

Google shows many different kinds of search features and Gary Illyes says that they’re query dependent, meaning that different queries trigger different features.

He said:

“Based on the user’s query, the Search features that appear on the Search result pages may also change.”

Takeaways

Gary covered a lot of topics in a snack-sized video that belies the importance of the information that was shared in it.

Watch Gary’s presentation:

How Google Search serves pages

Featured image a screenshot of Google’s video/modified by author

Editor's P/S:

The article provides valuable insights into Google's ranking process, emphasizing the importance of relevance and uniqueness. Understanding the factors that determine relevance, such as user's location, language, and device type, helps SEOs optimize their websites effectively. Additionally, the focus on content uniqueness highlights the need for SEOs to create content that stands out and provides value to users.

Furthermore, the discussion on query expansion and stop words sheds light on Google's interpretation of search queries. By considering both semantic and user-based relevance, SEOs can better align their content with the intent behind search queries. Overall, the article serves as a reminder that Google's ranking process is a complex and evolving one, requiring SEOs to stay up-to-date with the latest developments and best practices.