Understanding how search engines work, Google in particular, is important when working in SEO. The basics of crawling and indexing are amazingly useful to understand if you want to rank your own content.
Additionally, Google updates its algorithm several times a year. Understanding the more significant updates, and how they work, can help you to craft content and SEO strategies that are up-to-date.
We've written extensively about how search engines work, and included some of the top resources here. You can also browse the latest posts on search engines from the Moz blog below.
How Search Engines Work : New to SEO? Start with the basics of how search engines operate with our free beginner's guide.
Search Engine Ranking and Visibility : Learn the fundamentals of how search engines rank content on search engine result pages.
Google Algorithm Update History : A complete history of Google algorithm updates since 2000. This includes important links and references for understanding how Google works.
How Search Engines Value Links : Search engines work off a number of signals, but two of the most important are content and links. In this video, Rand Fishkin explains the basics of link evaluation.
MozCast : Is Google updating it's algorithm as we speak? MozCast is the Google algorithm weather report, so you can see how much Google results are changing each day.
There are several studies (and lots of data) out there about how people use Google SERPs, what they ignore, and what they focus on. Two things I have never seen tested are the actual user reactions to and behavior with SERPs. My team and I set out to test these ourselves, and this is where biometric technology comes into play.
![Opting Out of Google Featured Snippets Led to 12% Traffic Loss [SEO Experiment]](https://moz.rankious.com/_moz/images/blog/banners/5e9606eb26e4c5.73102989_2021-04-15-233658.jpg?w=1180&h=400&auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&dm=1618529818&s=39cad8cf0eaaac1d52f289e8dd005515)
Working with the team at SearchPilot, we devised an A/B split test experiment to remove Moz Blog posts from Google featured snippets, and measure the impact on traffic.
Modern SERPs require modern understanding, and that means paying close attention to location and how it affects rankings. Learn about getting data that represents true traffic in this edition of Whiteboard Friday.
The team at iProspect started noticing that YMYL queries that should return local (UK) content in Google's "People Also Ask" results actually have a heavy influence from the US. They decided to analyze over 1,000 of the most-searched-for keywords in the finance industry to see how much of an issue this actually is.
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As a result of Google’s dedication to combating misinformation and fake news, we could reasonably expect searchers to agree that Google has improved in its ability to surface credible and trusted content. But does the average searcher actually feel that way? Path Interactive conducted a survey to find out how users feel about the information they encounter in Google’s organic results.
If it seems like the #1 organic result keeps getting pushed down farther and farther, that's because it is. We explore the Y-position of 10,000 SERPs to see how things have changed since our 2013 study.
A month out from Google eliminating position zero, what's changed? PJ Howland of 97th Floor investigates the data and shares key takeaways, from vastly different CTR to the impact of PAAs and beyond.
On January 22, 2020, Google started removing Featured Snippet URLs from organic listings. We take a deep dive into the before and after of this change, including its implications for rank-tracking.
The January 2020 Core Update peaked from about January 13-15 and seems to have finally settled. We dig into the numbers, including winners and losers.
![The Dirty Little Featured Snippet Secret: Where Humans Rely on Algorithmic Intervention [Case Study]](https://moz.rankious.com/_moz/images/blog/banners/advanced-seo-74da3a3_2021-04-15-234555.png?w=1180&h=400&auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&dm=1618530355&s=490860b890c37b5692284307f17140dc)
When a site gets over a million organic visits per month, you'd think it would rank for a few featured snippets. One SEO shares the results of his investigation into why a highly trafficked site with ample organic rankings didn't bear featured snippet fruit.
Feed Google the right information, fight spam, and flip it into an opportunity: these are the top 3 ways to chase local SEO success in 2020.
There's a lot of hype and misinformation about the new Google algorithm update. What actually is BERT, how does it work, and why does it matter to our work as SEOs? Join our own machine learning and natural language processing expert Britney Muller as she breaks down exactly what BERT is and what it means for the search industry.
Wrangling free data into actionable insights is a key skill for any SEO analyst. In today's post, learn how to pull together data from Google and the Moz API to harvest valuable information from the SERPs and turn it into smart recommendations for your clients.
People Also Ask boxes represent growing opportunity in the SERPs, but they're not the most straightforward SERP feature around. Learn all about PAAs and how you can start optimizing for them today.