How Google Ranks Search Results (and How to Get Ranked on Google)

Growing in your understanding of Google Rankings

As an avid Google user, I have always been super thankful for Google’s capabilities to answer my questions. But when I first learned about algorithms and Google’s automated process of returning search results to users, I felt frustrated and a little angry that the search engines were so... impersonal, and powerful. I mean, who doesn’t look at the first page of the search results and that long list of “o’s” signifying the millions of search results for a given term, and feel sort of powerless, like Google controls the universe?

But (as I quickly learned in my SEO studies) I had a pretty underdeveloped, babyish understanding of search engines that prevented me from realizing three things:

1. The algorithms Google uses to return search results are very sophisticated, take into account hundreds of factors, and are largely successful.
2. Google’s main customer is the user and they are working to provide value to the user. They explain that their end goal is to “provide end-users with helpful, accurate search results.”
3. You have more power and influence on the final search engine results than you think (otherwise, there would be no jobs in the SEO field, and no SEO field to begin with).

I firmly believe that everyone who wants visibility online – small businesses, large businesses, non-profits, and entrepreneurs – has got to get a grip on Google rankings. If you can, it will help you understand how to do digital marketing, better.

5 Questions About Google Ranking - answered

1. How does Google rank websites?

Google’s ranking system evaluates hundreds of factors to decide which pages deserve a top spot. These include:

• Relevance: Does your content match what the searcher wants?
• Authority: Do other credible sites link to you?
• User Experience: Is your site fast, mobile-friendly, and easy to navigate?
• Content Quality: Are you providing original, helpful, and up-to-date information?

Because of the insanely large amount of searches performed on Google.com every day, the results are delivered through this automated computing process. And thanks to incredible technology, Google is able to evaluate their best guess at a user’s intent and provide their top answers that will hopefully be exactly what the user is looking for.

Here is what Google is doing behind the scenes to determine whether or not your website is the right answer to deliver to someone’s search query in the little “search” box:

Crawling:

Google has automated spiders, also known as “bots,” that regularly crawl web content to understand what it’s about. Sites with hundreds of pages take longer to crawl than sites with fewer pages – and the job of SEO’s is to make sure a site is easy to crawl and easy for Google to quickly interpret.

Indexing:

Once Google has crawled a site, they index it – basically, like categorizing a book at the library. Just like librarians shelve books based on author or genre, Google indexes content according to subject and quality level.

Then when a person searches “best coffee shop in Minneapolis,” Google isn’t just matching keywords. It looks at reviews, location data, website credibility, and even the searcher’s intent (are they looking for directions or reviews?).

2. What is a No. 1 ranking worth?

SEO companies regularly tell their clients that they want to get them to the top of the search results – and no wonder, because a #1 ranking does receive the highest percentage of clicks for a given search, around 42 percent. The 10^th result on the first page of the search results actually gets 14 times FEWER CLICKS than the first result. Wow. This means that a No. 1 ranking can often have a huge impact on business success.

3. Why does it take so long to get ranked on Google?

Climbing to the first page doesn’t happen overnight. It can take 3–6 months (or longer) to see meaningful results. Why?

• Competition: Popular keywords often have thousands of pages fighting for a spot.
• Website authority: Newer websites usually take longer to build trust.
• Content strategy: Thin or outdated content won’t outrank high-quality pages.

Think of it like planting a garden: You can’t expect to harvest the next day. It takes time, care, and consistent effort.

There are over 1.2 billion websites on the Internet. Although Google frequently updates its search results, you won’t jump to the top of the search results with a little SEO done to your site.

Remember how I said that the algorithms are sophisticated? Well, spammers try to get to the top of the search results quick, too, and Google won’t let that happen so easily. That’s why there are standards. That’s why Google crawls, indexes, and awards good sites with higher rankings. But with so many pages on the web, it won’t happen instantaneously.

4. How to check your Google search results ranking

Well, simply searching your brand name and the keywords you’re targeting are a start – and then scroll through the search results and see if you can find yourself. There are also several great tools that you can use:

• Google Search Console gives you the chance to check your website for issues, view search terms that bring visitors to your site, and watch how skillfully Google crawls your site.
• Incognito Search: Open a private browser window and search for your target keywords (this removes personalization).
• SEO Tracking Tools: Platforms like Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Moz provide ranking reports and competitor comparisons.

5. What do to if you're not ranking at all

It’s tough when your site’s not performing well in the search results, but you have a few options:

• Perform basic SEO yourself.
• Hire an SEO company to help you
• Wait.

It’s really as simple as that. Ranking in the organic results is not an overnight process, just as trees take many years to grow tall and flower gardens don’t sprout up in an hour. Ranking on search engines is a marathon, not a sprint.

Ready to Get Ranked on Google?

Improving your rankings takes effort, but you don’t have to do it alone. Want to get your business on page one? Request a free SEO audit today.