Understanding the basic concept and purpose of web page indexing

Web page indexing is a process used by search engines to store and organise information about web pages. Google indexing, in particular, is a crucial database of crawled webpages used by the search engine for generating search results. This process ensures that when users search for information, they receive the most relevant and up-to-date results.

Definition of Web Page Indexing

Web page indexing is the process by which search engines like Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo discover, crawl, and store web pages in their massive databases, making them searchable and accessible to users. The primary purpose of web page indexing is to enable search engines to provide relevant and accurate search results to users, thereby improving their overall search experience.

Understanding the basic concept and purpose of web page indexing.

Web page indexing is a critical component of search engine optimisation (SEO), as it allows search engines to understand the content, structure, and relevance of web pages. By indexing web pages, search engines can:

• Identify and categorise web pages based on their content, keywords, and meta tags.

• Determine the relevance and authority of web pages for specific search queries.

• Provide users with accurate and relevant search results.

• Improve the overall user experience by reducing the time it takes to find relevant information.

In essence, web page indexing ensures that your content is discoverable and accessible to search engine users, helping your website gain visibility and attract more traffic.

How are web pages found?

Web pages are found by being indexed. Indexing is the process of search engines visiting and analysing new and updated web pages before adding them to their index (database) of webpages. Using Google Search Console, you can submit sitemaps and check the indexing status of your URLs. Indexing can be done in three ways:

• Let the crawlers do the work

• Submit a sitemap URL (in XML format)

• Request indexing manually

You can also use the URL Inspection Tool in Google Search Console to verify if specific URLs are indexed.

Content Management Systems are often configured to allow indexing of newly published pages by default. But what if a landing page, for instance, that’s only to be accessible to a select group of recipients isn’t required to be indexed by search engines? i.e. to not be visible in search engine results pages (SERPs).

If your website developer added a content managed Robots Directive to a page so content editors can control how a page is indexed, then it’s simply a case of setting the page to NOINDEX/NOFOLLOW. This means the page on your site will not be indexed and its in-page links not followed by search engines.

If however, there isn’t a Robots Directive field available to content editors then assigning the directive may require you to talk to your development team, who’ll update the robots.txt file.

Crawling and Indexing Process

The crawling and indexing process involves several steps that search engines follow to discover, crawl, and index web pages.

Explanation of how search engines crawl and index web pages.

Here’s a step-by-step explanation of the crawling and indexing process:

1. Crawling: Search engines use software programs called “crawlers” or “spiders” to continuously scan and discover new web pages. Crawlers follow hyperlinks from one web page to another, exploring the web to find new content.

2. Discovery: When a crawler discovers a new web page, it sends a request to the web server to retrieve the page’s content.

3. Rendering: The web server responds by sending the page’s content to the crawler, which then renders the page to understand its structure and content.

4. Indexing: The crawler extracts relevant information from the page, such as keywords, meta tags, and content, and stores it in the search engine’s index.

5. Storage: The indexed data is stored in massive databases, making it searchable and accessible to users.

This process ensures that search engines can efficiently find and index new and updated web pages, allowing them to provide the most relevant search results to users.

Role of Sitemaps and Robots.txt Files in Indexing

Sitemaps and robots.txt files play a crucial role in helping search engines index web pages effectively.

How these tools assist search engines in indexing web pages effectively.

Sitemaps:

• A sitemap is a file that lists all the URLs on a website, making it easier for search engines to discover and crawl new content.

• Sitemaps can be submitted to search engines like Google and Bing to help them understand the website’s structure and content.

• Sitemaps can also include additional metadata, such as the frequency of updates and the priority of pages, to help search engines crawl and index the website more efficiently.

Robots.txt Files:

• A robots.txt file is a text file that provides instructions to search engine crawlers on which pages to crawl and which to ignore.

• Robots.txt files can be used to block crawlers from accessing certain pages or directories, preventing them from being indexed.

• Robots.txt files can also be used to specify crawl rates and frequencies, helping search engines to crawl and index the website more efficiently.

By using sitemaps and robots.txt files, website owners can help search engines index their web pages more effectively, improving their visibility and search engine rankings.

Why indexed web pages are important

The indexing of URLs is essential for them to be found by search engines and subsequently discovered by potential customers interested in your product or service. Utilising tools such as Google Search Console can help Google discover and index web pages more efficiently.

If web pages aren’t assigned to be indexed they won’t be found, and consequently won’t rank. You can check if your website's pages are indexed by using the 'site:' search operator for a quick overview or Google Search Console for detailed insights.

A URL’s ranking and Domain Authority isn’t static. As well as being dependent on continual optimisation, there are also other factors at play. Such as:

• How often content is published

• How authoritative and relevant content is

• Internal links and their optimisation

• External linking (backlinking)

• Competing pages

• User behaviour when a link in a SERP is browsed

The work of search engines is constant. Website indexation never stops. Crawlers periodically return to websites to check for updates and assess their ranking. That’s why it’s important to ensure your web pages are created to achieve the best ranking results.

At Codehouse, all our website builds include a Robots Directive which allows content editors to assign the following:

• INDEX / FOLLOW:  Index the page/Follow its links

• INDEX / NOFOLLOW: Index the page/Don’t follow its links

• NOINDEX / FOLLOW: Don’t index the page/Follow its links

• NOINDEX / NOFOLLOW: Don’t index the page/Don’t follow its links

All of the above is an evolving landscape as AI tools, like Perplexity and ChatGPT Search begin to disrupt the search experience landscape.

Our knowledgeable digital experience team and Google certified experts can help your business get the very best from its content marketing strategy. Get in touch to find out more.