You’ve probably typed something into Google today without even thinking about it. A quick question, a product you’re curious about, or maybe the opening hours of a local shop. And in less than a second, millions of results appear on your screen. But how do search engines work? How does Google, or Bing, or any other search engine, decide which websites to show first?
For small business owners, these answers matter. Because if your site isn’t included in those results, potential customers may never know you exist.
The good news is that search engines follow a clear process, and once you understand the basics, it becomes much easier to see how your website can be found and recommended.
What Search Engines Really Do
At their core, search engines are tools that connect people with answers. Every day, billions of questions are asked online, while at the same time new pages and updates are being published on websites. The role of a search engine is to scan this constant flow of information and return the pages most likely to help.
This happens automatically through advanced computer programs. No one at Google or Bing is manually choosing results. Instead, algorithms work non-stop in the background, discovering new content, updating what they already know, and organising it so results appear in seconds.
In the UK, Google dominates the market, handling more than nine out of ten searches. But whichever search engine people use, the principle is the same: they don’t create the answers themselves. They organise what’s already online and recommend the options that seem most relevant and trustworthy.
The Three Stages of Search
Search engines follow a clear process. Google explains this in its guide, How Google Search Works, which breaks the system into three stages: crawling, indexing, and ranking. Once you understand these basics, it becomes much easier to see how your website can be found and recommended.
Let’s start with the first stage – crawling.
Step 1 – Crawling: How Do Search Engines Find Your Pages?
The first stage of search is crawling. This is how search engines discover what’s out there on the internet. You can think of it as millions of tiny automated explorers moving across the web, jumping from one page to another by following the links that connect them. These explorers are often called crawlers, bots, or spiders, and their job is simple: to find new and updated content.
Your pages can be reached in several ways. If another website links to yours, crawlers can follow that path and land on your page. If your own pages are linked clearly together, they can move from one to the next with ease. You can also guide them with a sitemap, which acts like a ready-made itinerary. In some cases, crawlers even guess new addresses by spotting patterns in links they have already found.
Crawlers don’t just scan text. They try to load the page as a visitor would, opening menus, images, and interactive elements. If the page is slow to load, or relies heavily on scripts that make content difficult to access, crawlers may not see everything. And because they only spend a limited time on each site, confusing pages can mean other important sections get skipped.
There are also obstacles that can block crawlers. A single misplaced instruction in a robots.txt file can hide whole sections of a site. A misplaced instruction in a robots.txt file can hide whole sections. Broken links can waste time. Pages locked behind logins are invisible. Even duplicate versions of the same page can cause confusion.
To put this into context, imagine a café adds a new menu page but forgets to link it from the homepage. The page exists, but crawlers may never find it. To the café owner, the menu is live. To the search engine, it’s invisible.
Quick recap on Crawling
What makes crawling easier
- Clear internal links between pages
- Links from other websites
- A sitemap
- A tidy robots.txt file
- Fast-loading pages and stable hosting
- Simple, consistent navigation
What gets in the way of crawling
- Blocked sections in robots.txt
- Broken links or server errors
- Password-protected or hidden content
- Endless duplicate or parameter-based URLs that waste crawl budget
- Very slow sites
- Heavy reliance on scripts that crawlers cannot easily render
Step 2 – Indexing: How Do Search Engines File Your Pages?
Once a page has been discovered through crawling, the next stage is indexing. This is where the search engine decides how to categorise the page and whether it deserves a place in its vast database of results.
The crawler has already gathered your content, but now the system analyses it in detail – the text on the page, headings, images and their alt text, the title tag, and the overall structure. All of this helps the search engine decide what the page is about and when it should appear in searches.
Indexing is a little like filing books in a library. A book with a clear title, a well-organised structure, and a complete story is easy to shelve correctly. A leaflet with hardly any words or no clear title may not make it onto the shelves at all.
Duplicate copies are also grouped together. If two of your pages are almost identical, the search engine usually selects one “canonical” version to keep and pushes the others aside.
Other signals are also recorded during this stage. Search engines check whether the page is mobile-friendly, what language it’s written in, and whether it looks relevant to a particular country or region. They also follow technical instructions such as a “noindex” tag, which deliberately tells them not to include a page.
It’s important to note that even a technically sound page is not always guaranteed a place. Thin pages with very little to say, or pages that are hard to process, may be skipped. For example, a builder with a service page that only says, “We do building work in London” hasn’t given enough detail. A more complete page with clear headings, service descriptions, and photos is far more likely to be stored and shown when someone nearby searches for a builder.
Quick recap on Indexing
What makes indexing easier
- Unique, detailed content with a clear purpose
- Descriptive titles, headings, image alt text, and meta information
- Structured data (schema) that clarifies page content
- Strong internal linking that connects pages logically
- Correct canonical tags where duplicates exist
- Layouts that work well on desktop and mobile
What gets in the way of indexing
- Thin, low-value content
- Duplicate or near-duplicate pages without a clear canonical version
- Misapplied “noindex” tags
- Content locked behind scripts or rendering issues
- Pages that load so slowly they cannot be processed properly
Step 3 – Ranking: How Do Search Engines Decide Who Appears First?
Once a page has been crawled and indexed, the final step is ranking. This is where the search engine decides which pages deserve the top spots when someone types in a query. The decision is based on hundreds of signals, but most fall into three big areas: relevance, trust, and experience.
Relevance is the most obvious factor: does the page actually answer the question being asked? A well-written article that directly addresses the query stands a much better chance of appearing than a vague or off-topic page. A florist who has a clear page titled “Same-Day Flower Delivery in Greenwich” will rank better for that search than a vague page that only says “We sell flowers.”
Relevance also takes search intent into account. Search engines try to understand what the person is really looking for when they type a query. For example, someone searching “apple benefits” probably wants health information about the fruit, not the latest iPhone. Someone typing “best coffee machine” could be comparing reviews or ready to buy. The page that best matches that intent usually ranks higher.
Trust comes from signals outside your website. If other reputable sites link to your page, if your business is mentioned positively online, or if you have consistent reviews, search engines are more confident recommending you.
The third element is experience. A page that loads quickly, works seamlessly on mobile devices, and is easy to navigate will generally outrank one that is slow, cluttered, or frustrating to use. Speed here is less about whether Google can see your page, and more about whether people will stay on it. A slow site means a poor experience, and search engines do not want to recommend pages that frustrate readers.
Quick recap on Ranking
What makes ranking easier
- Pages that directly answer the searcher’s query
- High-quality links and mentions from trusted sites
- Regularly updated or fresh content when relevancy matters
- Secure, mobile-friendly pages that load quickly
- Content that matches the search intent (guide, product, video, etc.)
- Positive trust signals such as reviews, reputation, and authority
What gets in the way of ranking
- Keyword stuffing or over-optimised content
- Poorly structured or confusing navigation
- Very slow loading times or technical errors
- Lack of external signals like links or reviews
- Ignoring mobile usability or security (no HTTPS)
- Content that doesn’t match what searchers are really looking for
Why Rankings Change Over Time
One thing many business owners notice is that search results are never fixed. You might see your website near the top one week, only to find it lower down the next. This doesn’t mean you’ve done something wrong. It’s simply how search engines work. Rankings are recalculated all the time, and small shifts are completely normal.
Competition
One of the most common reasons for ranking changes is competition. If another business improves its site by adding stronger content, speeding up its pages, or improving navigation, search engines may decide their version is more helpful and move it above yours. It’s a bit like a high street: new shops open, old ones modernise, and attention naturally shifts.
Changing Search Behaviour
The way people search, and what they expect to see, also evolves. A few years ago, a search for “best coffee shops” often brought up long blog-style lists. Today, most people search on their phones and expect a live map with cafés they can visit straight away. Google recognises these shifts and adjusts results accordingly. Even if your own page hasn’t changed, it may be pushed down simply because a different type of result is now considered more useful.
Algorithm Updates and AI Overviews
Search engines also change their ranking systems regularly. Some algorithm updates are small and pass unnoticed, while others can shuffle results dramatically. A recent example is the introduction of AI Overviews in Google results. Instead of only showing a list of links, Google can now generate a short summary at the top of the page, often drawing from several sources. For business owners, this means people may see a snapshot of the answer before clicking through. While this adds another layer of competition for attention, the key principles haven’t changed: clear, reliable, and well-structured content is more likely to appear in these summaries as well as in the standard results.
The important thing to remember is that fluctuation is normal. Search positions rise and fall. Even with AI, the basics stay the same. What steadies your presence is consistency: keeping your website useful, reliable, and up to date. Instead of stressing over daily changes, it’s better to track progress over months and aim for steady, long-term growth.
Common Reasons Your Pages Might Not Show Up
Even when your website is live, not every page will automatically appear in search results. This can be frustrating, but it doesn’t always mean something is broken. Search engines work on their own schedule and make decisions about which pages to prioritise.
Sometimes new content is simply waiting its turn to be indexed. In other cases, the system may decide a page is too similar to another, or that it doesn’t add enough value beyond what’s already in the index. As mentioned earlier, technical settings such as a “noindex” tag, broken links, or duplicate versions can also play a role.
There are also other factors to keep in mind. Very new websites may take longer to build trust, so their pages don’t always appear straight away. On sensitive topics such as health or finance, Google often gives preference to well-established, authoritative sources. This doesn’t mean your page will never show up. Just that it may take more time or require stronger supporting signals.
In practice, you can do everything correctly and still find that some pages never appear. That doesn’t mean your site is failing. The best approach is to focus on your most important pages, the ones customers need to find, and make sure they are clear, accessible, and unique. Those are the pages search engines are most likely to show consistently.
Final Thoughts
Search engines may seem complicated, but at heart they are simply tools designed to connect people with the information they need. Once you understand how do search engines work, it becomes easier to see how your own website fits into the bigger picture, and how small improvements can make a big difference to your visibility.
For small business owners, the key takeaway is that you don’t need to master every technical detail. What matters most is consistency: keeping your site useful, reliable, and up to date. Clear content, fast-loading pages, and a steady flow of helpful information will always work in your favour.
At Social Matrix, we’ve been helping small businesses build that visibility since 2010. If you’d like your website to appear higher in search and bring in more of the right customers, contact us today. Let’s make sure your business is easy to find when it matters most.