In 2024, Google released many updates related to SEO. If you are an SEO person, you should keep an eye on updates and follow Google’s best practices.
Nowadays, Search engines are evolving with AI and new algorithms, but the foundations remain the same.

Here’s a breakdown of how it works:

User Intent and Context Understanding

The Google algorithm has started prioritizing users’ queries. It uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning models to understand the context of searches.

Advanced AI and Machine Learning

The core of Google’s algorithm relies heavily on artificial intelligence and machine learning. Algorithms such as BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) and its successors analyze the context of words in a query to advance the importance of search results. Google’s AI models have continued to evolve, integrating more sophisticated techniques for understanding complex queries and generating more accurate answers.

RankBrain and Multitask Unified Model (MUM)

RankBrain, an AI system introduced to help process search queries and provide more relevant results, continues to be a key component. Google’s Multitask Unified Model (MUM) also plays a critical role by processing information across different languages and formats, allowing the algorithm to provide comprehensive and nuanced answers to complex questions.

Quality and Authority of Content

Google’s algorithm strongly emphasizes the quality and authority of content. Websites that provide in-depth, well-researched, and accurate information are rewarded with higher rankings. The algorithm evaluates factors such as content originality, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-A-T).

User Experience and Engagement

Google’s algorithm considers user experience metrics like page load speed, mobile friendliness, and overall site usability. It also monitors user engagement signals, such as click-through rates, bounce rates, and time spent on a page, to assess how well a page satisfies user needs.

Personalization and Localization

The algorithm personalizes search results based on a user’s search history, location, and preferences. Localization ensures that users receive results relevant to their geographical area, providing a more tailored search experience.

Fight Against Spam and Manipulation

Google continually updates its algorithms to combat spam and manipulative SEO practices. Measures are in place to detect and penalize sites that use black-hat SEO techniques or generate low-quality content designed solely to game the search system.

Google has 5 main stages:

• Crawling: Discover and collect web pages
• Rendering: Analyse how pages look and function
• Indexing: Organise and store page information
• Ranking: Determine relevance and order of pages
• Querying: Fetch relevant results for user searches

Here is the diagram below to show this process.

Remember:

If Google can’t discover your pages, your content won’t be crawled or rendered.

Pages are discovered through:

• The submitted sitemap
• Manual page submission
• Internal links (i.e. hub pages)

If Google can’t crawl or render your content, your page won’t be indexed.

Possible issues:

Network issues

• Problems with the server
• Not accessible without logging in
• Robots.txt code preventing access
• Disallowed for crawling as an owner

If Google can’t index your page, you won’t rank in the search results for relevant queries.

Possible issues:

• Low-quality content
• Irrelevant content to the query
• Code preventing indexing (noindex)
• Don’t design your site complex

If Google doesn’t rank your page, you won’t show in Google or get any organic traffic.

Follow the Google SEO parameters that will help your website pass each step.

Remember these stages next time you’re publishing a page or struggling to rank in Google.

Overall, Google’s algorithm in 2024 represents a blend of cutting-edge technology and user-centric design, aiming to provide the most relevant, high-quality, and personalized search experiences possible.