How Do Search Engines Determine Rankings [2020 & Beyond]

Ranking is the process of organizing results to queries typed on a search engine based on the order of relevance, from the most important to the least important.

Ranking factors have a huge role to play in search engine optimization and digital marketing strategies of a site. In order to have a technically sound domain that focuses on delivering relevant content to users, ranking can play a definite role in optimization that results in attracting the right customers to the business.

Especially in the competitive industries such as health, banking, finance, investment services and e-commerce, ranking factors play a significant role in business sustainability and they are the key to gain an edge over competition.

It is important to note that there are various ranking factors that influences whether a website appears on top or at the end. Every search engine’s ranking parameters are different and it reflects in the results which show up.

In order to gauge the relevance, search engines use a set of formula coupled with processes, that are typically termed as algorithms, to retrieve stored information in order of relevance and present those to the users in meaningful ways. 

From the first search query to now, these algorithms have undergone tremendous changes and have become sharp, focused and ‘intelligent’ in terms of results, thereby improving the quality. For instance, search engine Google makes algorithm adjustments on a daily basis in terms of broad, core algorithms or minor tweaks that enhance overall customer experience. If the website has suffered after an algorithm adjustment, it is good to check it against the Search Quality Rater Guidelines or Google’s Quality Guidelines.

So why do search engines do what they do? They do so because they want to provide the most useful answers to the queries listed by the user in the most helpful formats. Search engines are themselves learning in terms of language and user experience and they have incredibly evolved from cheap tricks and tactics of language used.

Repetition of words and phrases in the website was considered a key back in the day but search engines have become smarter and do not encourage such cheap tactics anymore. Such mistakes have the potential of making the website’s rank go down in the rankings. These mistakes make for terrible user experience which leads to users being bombarded with hard-to-read texts and makes for an unforgettable and annoying experience. Search engines no longer want to be associated with cheap quality of website handling and that reflects in the rankings.

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