Pages are indexed but not appearing on search results
Understanding Google’s Search Process
Splitt outlined Google’s search process as having several distinct stages:
Discovery: Google learns that a URL exists (sitemaps help with this)
Crawling: Google visits the URL to see what’s there
Indexing: The page is added to Google’s database
Serving/Ranking: When relevant to a query, the page may be shown in results
According to Splitt, pages that make it to the indexing stage still need to compete during the ranking phase to appear in results successfully.
For website owners and content creators, this suggests:
Ensure content meets user needs
Create comprehensive resources that address specific queries
Consider multiple factors that might affect search visibility, not just user engagement
Splitt’s comments give some insight into Google’s thinking. However, they are only one part of the complex puzzle of Google’s search algorithm.
Multiple Factors Affect Search Visibility
This statement suggests user engagement might be one consideration in Google’s complex ranking system, though Splitt presented it as one factor among several, not necessarily the primary one.