How Google Ranks Search Results | Mach | NBC News

when we need to know something we just google it whether it's a trivia question about an actor's roles an argument over song lyrics or a hunt for a nearby Italian restaurant we can usually get the answer in a matter of moments the answers might be simple but getting to them is it Google search index contains hundreds of billions of web pages and thousands of them might contain the answer so how does Google decide which results pop up first this is algorithmics the space where we explore how invisible computer controlled database sets of rules are making decisions for us every day Google's ranking system is made up of a series of algorithms that are continually evolving the company says its system asks itself more than 200 questions about your search in less than half a second to provide the best most relevant results first the algorithms analyze the words in York we're taking into account spelling errors synonyms and the way people naturally talk they

also identify the category of information you're seeking like whether you're looking for the hours a local restaurant is open next the algorithms match your query with web pages that contain related information considering factors like how often your key words appear in the text and whether there are pages written in the same language as your question tranq the relevance of those pages sophisticated algorithms evaluate the usefulness of each webpage based on hundreds of factors like how recently the page was updated or whether other prominent web pages linked to this one as an authority on the subject google also tailors these results based on personal factors like your current location and past search history search best Chinese restaurants while you're home in New York and you'll get results for locations there make that same search while you're on a business trip and you'll get recommendations in that city finally Google evaluates how all of this relevant information fits together and tries to provide a diverse set of information in a format that helps your search the system is always evolving as the web continues to grow exponentially

after all that Google delivers your search results all of those steps combined take just a fraction of a second delivering you information and instant gratification because the top search result is always the algorithm hey NBC News viewers thanks for checking out our YouTube channel subscribe by clicking on that button down here and click on any of the videos over here to watch the latest interviews show highlights and digital exclusives thanks for watching