“The Effect of Quality on Search” of the Google Search podcast, John Mueller and Gary Illyes discuss how the quality of a page and site plays a role in crawling and indexing, besides ranking.
Here are some of the key takeaways from the episode:
- Quality pages are more likely to be crawled and indexed than low-quality pages. Google’s crawlers are constantly looking for new and updated content to add to the index. However, they prioritize crawling high-quality pages over low-quality pages.
- The quality of a page is determined by a number of factors, including the content, the structure of the page, and the overall user experience. Google wants to provide users with the best possible search results, so they prioritize crawling and indexing pages that are informative, well-written, and easy to use.
- Sitemaps can help Google’s crawlers find and index all of the pages on your site. However, they are not required, and Google will still crawl and index your site even if you don’t have one.
- You don’t need to update your site often or add many links to improve your ranking in search results. Quality is more important than quantity.
Here are some specific examples of how quality can impact crawling and indexing:
- If you have a page on your site that is full of duplicate content, Google may choose not to index it at all.
- If you have a page on your site that is poorly structured and difficult to navigate, Google may have difficulty crawling and indexing it.
- If you have a page on your site that is slow to load or has a lot of broken links, Google may choose to crawl and index it less often.
Overall, the best way to improve the crawling and indexing of your site is to create high-quality content and provide a good user experience. You should also make sure that your site is well-structured and easy for Google’s crawlers to navigate.
Here are some tips for improving the quality of your site:
- Make sure your content is informative, well-written, and relevant to your target audience.
- Use clear and concise headings and subheadings to structure your content.
- Use images and videos to break up your text and make your pages more visually appealing.
- Make sure your pages load quickly and are easy to navigate.
- Fix any broken links on your site.
- Use a sitemap to help Google’s crawlers find and index all of the pages on your site.
By following these tips, you can improve the quality of your site and make it more likely that Google will crawl and index your pages.
