What Is Google’s Algorithm? Everything Your Business Should Know in 2025

The Google algorithm decides which webpages are shown to users once they’ve made a search query. It also determines the ranking of the pages shown—from top to bottom.

Let’s imagine that you’ve searched for the “best sneakers for jogging” on Google. The webpages you see first in the results are what Google considers most relevant to your query and most likely to help you find the right sneakers.

To decide which pages are helpful, the algorithm uses a series of ranking factors to work out what should be shown first. This could include the quality of a piece of content, or how many authoritative websites are linking to it.

Google also frequently updates its algorithm to reevaluate different ranking factors, upgrade its search technology, and improve the user experience.

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Google isn’t 100% transparent about how the algorithm works, but here’s what we do know:

• Google crawls different pages – Because new content is published daily, Google uses its Googlebot crawler to search the internet and find new webpages. A crawler is a bot that locates website URLs and gathers information about them, including key content like titles and images.
• The Googlebot indexes new URLS – Once the Googlebot has collected this information, it stores these webpage details in its database.
• The URLs are ready for search results – The next time someone searches for a query, Google can pull from its database and display the webpages that are most relevant to the user’s needs.

The algorithm is crucial to understanding Google search, since any updates to it can affect your brand’s visibility online. 

Many businesses have reported fluctuating page rankings after Google updates. This can cause the position of your top performing pages to drop in search results, decreasing the chances of your desired target audience seeing your website online.

By keeping yourself well informed about search, you have a much better chance of overcoming these obstacles. For example, using free SEO tools like Google Search Console, you can monitor how well your pages are performing and spot any ranking issues before they escalate.

Ranking factors are specific criteria that help Google find relevant pages for audiences. If your site fulfills this criteria, you’ll stand a much better chance of appearing in search results.

To help you understand the Google search algorithm and what it’s looking for, I’ve explained some of the most important ranking factors below:

1. Content Quality

This is, arguably, the most important ranking factor of them all. Google strives to provide users with high-quality content that fulfills their needs, so it’s always on the lookout for helpful content that offers value.

What You Can Do

To create high-quality content, you should:

• Create original content – Don’t copy and paste content from other sources or AI-generate an entire wall of text. Incorporate your own experiences into your content, be it through sharing useful tips you’ve discovered or photos you’ve taken yourself.
• Structure your content well – Avoid huge blocks of text that go on and on. Instead, keep your content digestible for users with short paragraphs, different headings, bullet points, and optimized imagery.

📑 Want to know how to write high-quality blog posts? Refer to our top SEO tips for blogs

Using E-E-A-T To Write High-Quality Content

Do you know about E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness)?

While it’s not an official ranking factor, these four principles can help you create high-quality content that ranks well.

1. Experience – This tells readers that your content is made by real people. To make your content personable, don’t be afraid to share first-hand experiences, or add author bios to your website.
2. Expertise – Your content should demonstrate your industry expertise where possible. Cite reputable sources and break down complex topics in a readable way.
3. Authoritativeness – Is your website well recognized in your industry? To boost authority, get backlinks from reputable websites, showcase relevant awards or qualifications, or include customer reviews.
4. Trustworthiness – Demonstrate that your website is an honest name in your industry. To achieve this, follow ethical practices at all times, provide users with clear contact information, and be transparent about how you create content.

2. Content Freshness

Covering recent events or top news stories on your website? By regularly updating your content, you signal to Google that your content is fresh and has the most up to date information for users.

What You Can Do

Freshness goes beyond just updating your ‘modified on’ date. To keep content fresh, you should:

• Keep an eye on industry trends – With tools like Google Trends, you can watch out for trending industry topics and create new content based on what’s popular.
• Regularly update your content – If new, valuable information pops up, update your content accordingly. This could include major developments in a top news story, fresh data from a study, or the latest quotes from experts.

3. Content Relevancy

When Google ranks webpages, it looks for content that best matches a user’s search query. This ranking factor helps users get the content they need fast without having to dig for it.

What You Can Do

To produce relevant content for your audience, keep the following tips in mind:

• Consider the user intent – Think about why users have searched for the keyword you’re targeting. Is it to make a purchase? Or to learn more about a specific topic? Your content needs to be relevant to their needs and help them achieve their main goals.
• Target the right keywords – To find relevant content, Google will analyze the keywords in a user’s search query and see if they also appear on suitable webpages. When you conduct keyword research, make sure that you’re targeting the right keywords to reach your desired audience.

4. High-Quality Backlinks

A backlink is made when another website links back to one of your pages. If you have multiple websites linking to your website, you may experience increased rankings.

But why is this? Well, each backlink represents a vote of confidence and signals that your page is authoritative, trustworthy, and respected by others.

What You Can Do

Not all backlinks are created equal. If you want to increase the number of websites pointing back to yours, I suggest getting valuable links from reputable websites. You can achieve this by:

• Checking competitor activity – You can use free backlink checkers (I recommend SE Ranking’s one) to see which backlinks your competitors have. Analyze their activity and see if there are any suitable link opportunities for your own business.
• Looking for guest posting opportunities – Guest posting is when you post valuable content on other websites (and get a backlink by linking back to your own site in the content). When looking for websites to guest post on, look for high domain authority, high website traffic, and a niche that’s relevant to your industry.

5. A Great User Experience

User experience is another key factor that can impact your rankings. If your website is difficult to navigate, loads slowly, or isn’t optimized for different screens, users are more likely to feel frustrated and leave your page.

What You Can Do

To provide users with an enjoyable experience that keeps them on your website for longer, your website should:

• Load quickly – According to our website load time stats, the typical page speed for websites that appear in Google search results is 1.65 seconds. Use free tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights to track and optimize your page speeds.
• Be mobile optimized – Most users will access your website on mobile devices. Test your website on smartphones to check how responsive it is.
• Provide easy navigation – Does your website get users from point A to point B with little fuss? Make use of intuitive navigation bars and internal links to make it easy for users to browse your website.

The search landscape is always evolving, so Google will regularly reassess its ranking factors to see if they’re still relevant and can best fulfill user needs.

In the SEO community, there‘s been much debate over whether some ranking factors still matter or not. I’ve listed a couple of examples below:

• Content length – Despite what you might’ve heard, longer content doesn’t necessarily lead to better rankings. A source revealed this in 2024’s algorithm leak, suggesting that original content is more important than length.
• Domain age – Some professionals will tell you that an older domain age can improve your rankings. This isn’t the case. Though having a long standing website can build trust and familiarity with users, Google has confirmed that it doesn’t impact SEO.

🤔 Want to clear up other common SEO misconceptions? Read our news piece debunking SEO’s biggest myths

Google makes minor algorithm updates every day, though more significant updates happen multiple times a year. For instance, in 2024, Google had four core updates that impacted page rankings for many publishers and small businesses.

Though these updates might seem like a lot, they’re designed to improve the user experience, adapt to rising user behaviors, and give users the best content possible.

However, it’s worth noting that Google doesn’t always get it right. After previous core updates, many smaller publishers have noted significant ranking drops despite creating content to serve user needs.

For instance, Forbes came under fire in 2024 due to alleged parasite SEO practices that helped the brand dominate search, leaving smaller businesses trailing behind. Though Google’s intention is to rank the most helpful content first, this isn’t always the case.

Think an algorithm update has impacted your rankings? Don’t panic—here’s what you should do.

1. Find Confirmation of the Algorithm Update

When Google has a major update, it’ll add to its Search Status Dashboard. Check this page first to confirm that the changes you’ve seen are the direct result of an update.

It’s also worth looking for reputable websites that report on algorithm updates. Search for trustworthy sources online, or set up Google alerts that’ll send you an email whenever something related to the topic comes up.

🗞️ We’re always writing about the latest algorithm updates. Check out our news page regularly to keep yourself in the know

2. See How Bad the Impact Is

Once you’re certain that a Google algorithm update has impacted your website’s rankings, it’s time to check your data.

The easiest way to do this is through Google Analytics. From your account, click on “Acquisition” and select “Traffic acquisition.” You can view the traffic coming to your website from search.

Try to spot any patterns. Do only a few pages have less traffic than before, or have your rankings dropped across your entire website? Additionally, has your website experienced anything like this before? By working out what’s different, you can create an action plan that works for your business.

3. Assess Competitor Pages

Open up Google and search for the keywords that you’ve lost or dropped rankings for. You’ll want to assess the competition by looking at high-ranking pages and seeing what the general quality of content is like.

Take inspiration from what the pages now outranking you are doing well. If you’ve found a type of content that’s performing particularly well, think about how you can tweak your own content to follow suit.

4. Create Your Action Plan

Equipped with your research, you can now create an action plan to recover your rankings. Here are a few steps you might need to consider:

• Reviewing your website content – Above all, your content needs to fulfill user needs, so make sure that it answers key questions, features relevant information, and is easy to digest.
• Looking for content gaps – During your research, you might’ve discovered specific topics your competitors have covered that you haven’t. If any of these topics are relevant to your audience, think about creating new pages.
• Checking your technical SEO – I also recommend assessing your website’s technical SEO, since any technical hiccups on your website could make your post-update rankings worse. Common SEO mistakes to avoid include broken links, slow load times, and duplicate content.

However, I don’t recommend rushing into these actions and making huge changes at once. Making small, incremental tweaks is the easiest way to keep track of your progress and measure what’s working.

All algorithm updates are important, but some have been more influential than others. Here are some of the most significant updates to know about:

➡️ Want a full list of changes over the past few years? Refer to our list of Google’s key algorithm updates since 2022

Google can be secretive about its algorithm, and will typically only mention any changes during its most significant updates. This can make it difficult to predict its next move. However, you should still keep abreast of any Google algorithm news so you can make more informed decisions for your business.

Also, there are some website fundamentals that are likely to always remain important. Regardless of Google’s next move, your main aim should be to produce the best website possible for your users. If a visitor enjoys your website, it’s likely that Google will too.

With a better understanding of the Google algorithm, you’re now able to:

• Describe what Google’s algorithm is and how it impacts search results
• Talk about the key ranking factors that can impact your search visibility
• Better keep on top of Google’s latest algorithm updates
• Effectively react to updates that’ve impacted your website’s rankings

But if there’s one piece of information to take away with you, it’s this: though Google’s algorithm is important, your main focus should be your users. If your content is helpful for users, it’ll also signal to Google that your website is relevant to them and fulfills user needs.

🤔 Need help checking your business’ progress online? Learn how to do a website audit