How Does Google SEO Algorithm Work? A 2024 Guide

Have you wondered how search engines like Google can determine page ranking in search results? Well, the answer is simply using an SEO algorithm to help.

In brief, the SEO algorithm is a complex system that includes a set of rules and calculations that are used to determine which pages are suitable the most for search queries.

To learn more about how the Google SEO Algorithm works and tips to stay relevant with the algorithm, read this article till the end!

What Is SEO Algorithm?

SEO algorithm is a set of practices to optimize your websites based on Google algorithms that consider some factors such as content relevance, website technical, backlinks, and user experience to succeed in gaining a high rank. 

Google uses a complex system that involves rules and calculations to determine page ranking in search results. 

It is also common knowledge that Google periodically updates its algorithms to make sure that search results remain relevant and valuable to users. 

If you want to know some of the algorithms used by Google, here is the list:

• Panda Algorithm: This algorithm focuses on the quality of the content. Google will give a high rank to a webpage with valuable, relevant, and informative content. Otherwise, the low-quality, thin, and duplicate content will rank lower.
• Penguin Algorithm: Stand apart from the Google Panda algorithm, the Penguin algorithm focuses on penalizing websites that use black hat SEO techniques like keyword stuffing, buying backlinks, and cloaking.
• Hummingbird Algorithm: In 2013, Google introduced the Hummingbird algorithm that focuses on user intent from search queries.
• Mobile Algorithm: This algorithm ranks the web pages based on their loading times and mobile-friendliness.
• RankBrain Algorithm: RankBrain is the part of the Hummingbird algorithm that focuses on understanding the meaning of search queries and search the best matching results.
• Medic Algorithm: With this algorithm, the content that contains E-A-T (expertise, authority, trust) or is related to life-altering decisions will get a higher rank.
• Bert Algorithm: This algorithm uses natural language processing to understand the search queries more deeply, identify entities, and find relationships between entities.
• Core Updates Algorithm: Since 2017 till now, Google has used this algorithm. Unfortunately, the core updates algorithm is no longer transparent, so it needed tracking and observation processes to understand this algorithm.

Google's algorithm is usually changed over time. Yes, it adapts to recent trends, user intent, and developing technologies. So, it is possible that there will be another new or updated Google SEO algorithm in 2025 or the upcoming years.

How Can Algorithm Affect SEO Performance?

Google uses both algorithms and machine learning to help rank websites in its search results. This approach is applied to satisfy the user's experience, show the most relevant content, and provide useful information.

That means the algorithm will determine whether your website can get a high ranking or the opposite, and that clearly affects your SEO performance directly.

You must consider Google algorithms in your SEO strategy, according to its regular chances. By knowing and understanding what factor algorithms are used for ranking the pages, you can optimize your websites effectively.

Key Factors of Google SEO Algorithm

To improve quality search results, Google asses several aspects of web pages to help determine the relevant result, including:

1. Content Quality and Relevance

The first factor that can greatly impact your website's ranking is the quality and relevance of your content. The content you create should be well-written, informative, easy to understand, and aligned with user intent.

Search engine algorithms will prioritize web pages that can give valuable information to users such as in-depth articles, clear guidelines, useful tutorials, and credible information articles.

You can start optimizing your content by conducting keyword research related to your industry to know the relevant search queries. Remember to put it naturally to your content title, heading, and body content. Additional tips: Add a unique selling point to your content and avoid plagiarism or AI-written content.

In addition, you need to keep updating your content to recent trends and consistently uploading it to signal that your website is active and trustworthy.

2. Website Structure and Technical SEO

The next aspect that the Google SEO algorithm considers is the website’s technical and structure. 

Technical SEO practices involve providing an organized website structure and clear navigation to help search engines recognize your content and index it effectively. This includes using descriptive URLs, creating a page framework, and implementing breadcrumb navigation.

In addition, make sure that your website has a high loading speed and uses proper HTML markup to improve user experience and search ranking.

Don’t forget to monitor your website SEO performance regularly to make sure that your SEO optimization runs properly.

3. Websites Mobile-Friendliness

Because of the increasing of mobile phone-based users, optimizing mobile-friendliness has become one of Google's algorithms for SEO that is very crucial. Mobile-friendliness means designing your website so that it is easily accessed and adapted to different mobile screen formats.

Google applied an algorithm that prioritizes websites that have excellent mobile-friendliness over others that don't. So, a website that is responsive to various devices and screen sizes will get more chances to rank higher.

4. Off-Page SEO

Besides the previously mentioned factors, off-page SEO is also considered by the Google algorithm. The website’s external links that point to your website can have a positive impact on your authority and credibility.

Google will consider your website trusted based on the number of high-quality backlinks your website has. However, you need to be careful and never use black hat SEO techniques to build backlinks since Google can detect it and may give your website penalties.

Instead, you can focus on building high-value backlinks from authoritative sites, collaborating with influencers or bloggers, and creating high-quality content that attracts people to do external linking to your sites.

Tips to Stay Relevant with Algorithm Update

Because of the updates made by Google to develop the quality of its services, as website owners, you must be able to adapt your SEO strategy to keep up with competitors. 

Here are some tips that might help you to stay relevant to any Google algorithm updates you may face in the upcoming days.

1. Know New Update

The first thing you can do is conduct research for new algorithm updates. Of course, if you want to know the updates, you must be proactive in searching the related information.

For instance, you can follow Google's official channels such as Search Status Dashboards that list updates or Google Search Central which usually shares their updates on X platform. 

2. Research the Update

If there are any algorithm updates, you can find more detailed information about the updates such as the goals of improvements and what specific factors that change. 

From that specific data, you can dig deeper into how the algorithm works, what it prioritizes, what pattern it uses, and what factors it considers to determine a page rank.

3. Check Which Page Were Affected

After you know the information, you can check which pages on your website are affected by the algorithm change and how it changes by analyzing the real data before and after the change.

In this case, you can use supporting SEO tools like Google Search Console to track specific metrics on your pages that have changed recently and evaluate them.

4. Create an Action Plan

Once you understand new algorithm updates and which pages are affected, you can start making new strategies. 

When making strategy changes, consider making a list of the most important steps and pages you should optimize. Then, use metrics to measure the changes like traffic and conversion.

If your page has previously gained a good ranking but is overtaken by a competitor's website, you can evaluate and compare the competitor's content directly. You need to analyze the things you are missing and accordingly update your SEO strategies based on the data obtained.

Closing

Knowing the SEO algorithm will help you get insight into which parts you need to improve, from content creation to technical website optimization. This process will definitely help you get better traffic and lead to higher conversion rates and sales.

Effectively implementing SEO practices in your business requires a set of complex strategies and consistency. So, you may need professional help, but don’t worry! SEO Services by cmlabs can help you improve your website performance. Take the first step now by contacting our marketing team and get a free consultation