A search algorithm is a massive collection of other algorithms, each with its own purpose and task. Here’s how it all works.

Often I find myself focusing on specific strategies to perform specific functions.

How do I write compelling copy to rank on voice search?

What structured data produces easy wins?

Things like that.

These important questions are often covered here on Search Engine Journal in very useful articles.

But it’s important to not just understand what tactics might be working to help you rank. You need to understand **how **it works.

Understanding the structure that the strategy is functioning in is paramount to understanding not just why that strategy is working, but how and what it’s trying to accomplish.

Previously, we discussed how search engines crawl and index information.

This chapter will explore the basics of how search algorithms work.

What Is an Algorithm? A Recipe

If you ask Google what an algorithm is, you’ll discover that the engine itself (and pretty much everyone else) defines it as “a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer.”

If you take anything from this definition, it’s critical to understand what it is not in our context here.

An algorithm is not a formula.

To wrap our heads around the difference, why it’s important, and what each does, let’s consider for a moment the meal I might place on my dinner plate tonight.

We’ll go with a favorite of mine:

• Roast beef
• Horseradish
• Yorkshire pudding
• Green beans
• Mashed potatoes
• Gravy

(That’s right, we Canadians eat more than poutine and maple syrup, though both are awesome though probably not together.)

The roast beef needs to be seasoned and cooked perfectly.

The seasoning combined with the roast would be an example of a formula – how much of each thing is necessary to produce a product.

A second formula used would be the amount of time and at what temperature the roast should be cooked, given its weight. The same would occur for each item on the list.

At a very basic level, we would have 12 formulas (6 items x 2 – one for measurements and the other for cooking time and duration based on volume) making an algorithm set with the goal of creating one of Dave’s favorite meals.

We aren’t even including the various formulas and algorithms required to produce the ingredients themselves, such as raising a cow or growing potatoes.

Let’s add one more formula though – a formula to consider the amount of different foods I would want on my plate.

So, we now have an algorithm to accomplish this very important task. Fantastic!

Now we just need to personalize that algorithm so that the rest of my family also enjoys their meal.

We need to consider that each person is different and will want different amounts of each ingredient and may want different seasonings.

So, we add a formula for each person. Alright.

What the heck do a search algorithm and a dinner table have in common?

A lot more than you think.

Let’s look at just a few of the core characteristics of a website for comparison. (“Few” meaning nowhere near everything. Like not even close.)

• URLs
• Content
• Internal links
• External links
• Images
• Speed

As we witnessed with our dinner algorithm, each of these areas is divided further using different formulas and, in fact, different sub-algorithms.

It might be better if we think of it not as an algorithm, but as algorithms.

It’s also important to keep in mind that, while there are many algorithms and countless formulas at play, there is still _an _algorithm.

Its job is to determine how these others are weighted to produce the final results we see on the SERP.

So, it is perfectly legitimate to recognize that there is some type of algorithm at the top – the one algorithm to rule them all, so to speak – but always recognize that there are countless other algorithms and generally they’re the algorithms we think about when we’re considering how they impact search results.

Now, back to our analogy.

We have a plethora of different characteristics of a website being rated just as we have a number of food elements to end up on our dinner plate.

To produce the desired result, we have to have a large number of formulas and sub-algorithms to create each element on the plate and master algorithm to determine the quantity and placement of each element.

Sound familiar?

When we’re thinking of “Google’s algorithm” what we’re actually referring to is a massive collection of algorithms and formulas, each set to fulfill one specific function and gathered together by a lead or, dare I say, “core” algorithm to place the results.

So, we have:

• Algorithms like Panda to assist Google in judging, filtering, penalizing and rewarding content based on specific characteristics, and that algorithm likely included a myriad of other algorithms within in.
• The Penguin algorithm to judge links and address spam there. But this algorithm certainly requires data from other pre-existing algorithms that are responsible for valuing links and likely some new algorithms tasked with understanding common link spam characteristics so the larger Penguin algorithm could do its job.
• Task-specific algorithms.
• Organizing algorithms.
• Algorithms responsible for collecting all the data and putting it into a context that produces the desired result, a SERP that users will find useful.

So there we have it. That’s how search algorithms work at their core.

#seo #algorithms