Indexing
Indexing is generally understood to mean the inclusion of content in a library (index). There, the content is cataloged, categorized or simply sorted on the basis of keywords and summarized in a filing system. In the digital world, such as the Internet, this is done by sorting the content in a document.
What happens during indexing in the digital world of the Internet?
As described at the beginning, indexing is about collecting, recording and sorting information on the basis of keywords. In the digital world, indexing is the recording of information from the search engines Google and Co. This recording is done with the help of the so-called crawlers of the search engines. These crawlers, also called bots, are computer programs. They automatically scan the entire World Wide Web for new information and then include it in the search engine's index.
What is the importance of indexing for website operators?
A private website owner who only wants to show his family and friends his photos and experiences from the last vacation will not be particularly interested in the entire World Wide Web easily seeing his content.
Rather, the indexing of websites has a high weighting for operators who are active in the field of e-commerce (B2B, B2C) and want to show their products to interested customers. For commercial websites, a good ranking is crucial to reach customers. Therefore, pages must be indexed by crawlers and included in the Google index.
What is the importance of indexing for search engine optimization ?
The inclusion of the website content in the index of search engines is the core for the findability of the page. Therefore, all measures related to fast and smooth indexing of the page have high relevance for SEO. And here are a few basic rules to make it easy for the crawler (bot) to collect the information and reflect it as quickly as possible in the search engine results (SERP).
Content
Relevant content with enough words and keywords are crucial. Above it was described why keywords are important for the inclusion in the index
- Cataloging
- Categorization
- Sorting the content by keywords
Thus, the content can be considered in the search engine results. Therefore, the content is the most important element for search engine optimization.
Keyword
The central main keyword and other long-tail keywords should appear regularly in the text and other content elements. This way, the crawler recognizes which topic the page deals with and can classify it accordingly.
Beware of keyword stuffing, because Google penalizes the excessive use of keywords above a certain number. Such a penalty can be a loss of ranking, or in extreme cases even the removal from the index. And that's exactly what nobody wants.
Crawler
Simplifying the path for the crawler through the website. In order for the crawler to find its way around the website, a sophisticated website structure is important.
Creating a sitemap in XML or HTML is like a road map for the crawler and shows it where to find what.
Non-existent pages or 404 error pages that do not have a redirect are perceived negatively by the Google algorithm and it can result in a ranking loss.
Title tag and meta description
Optimized title tags and meta descriptions. These two elements of the web page creation represent quasi their advertising board with the search engine results. The title tag serves as a headline and the meta description, as the name "description" suggests, provides the user with further descriptive text.
While a search engine optimized title tag is an important ranking factor, the influence of the meta description is rather indirect. If the meta description includes a topic-relevant text that the crawler can use to establish a link to the content of the web page, it can also display this in the search engine results.
This means that the user gets more information content in advance and is more likely to click on the website. Therefore, it is especially important that the keywords are also used in the title tag and meta description.
How long does it take for content to get into the index?
According to Google employee John Mueller, indexing takes between a few hours and 6 months. However, he also said that if the content is good, indexing usually takes only a week. Another factor in indexing is domain authority. Google ranks older and more established URLs better than younger sites. The higher the authority, the faster pages are indexed.
However, it is also possible to have a page crawled again via the Google Search Console. Here, the crawl and indexing can be requested. Especially after major changes and improvements to the page, this can be worthwhile.
The golden rule is: Google always rewards good quality.
If you have any difficulties with your page indexing, you can contact us as a SEO Agency in Munich gladly contact.
