How Google Decides Which Websites to Show First
Every single day, people type about 8.5 billion questions into Google. In less than half a second, Google shows millions of websites ranked in order. How does it pick number one? The answer is Search Engine Optimization — the art of making your website the one Google trusts most.
What You'll Learn
By the end of this lesson you will be able to: • Explain what SEO is and why businesses care about it • Describe how search engine crawlers and indexes work • Name three strategies that improve a website's search ranking • Apply SEO thinking to write a better page title
What Is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It means making changes to a website so that search engines — like Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo — understand what the site is about and show it to the right people. Imagine you baked the best chocolate chip cookies in town, but your shop has no sign, no address, and the windows are painted black. Nobody would find you! SEO is like giving your shop a bright sign, a clear address, and a menu in the window.
How Search Engines Find and Rank Websites
Search engines use three steps: 1. Crawling — Automated robots called crawlers or spiders travel across the internet by following links, reading every page they visit. 2. Indexing — Crawlers store what they find in a huge database called an index. Google's index contains over 100 billion web pages. 3. Ranking — When you search, Google's algorithm looks at hundreds of signals to decide which pages answer your question best, then lists them from most to least relevant.
Keywords are the words people type into search engines. If your page about dog training uses the exact phrase 'how to teach a puppy to sit,' Google knows to show it when someone types exactly that. Research what words real people use before writing any web content.
Three Powerful SEO Strategies
On-Page SEO: • Title tag — the clickable headline shown in search results. It should include your main keyword and be under 60 characters. • Meta description — the short summary below the title (under 160 characters). A great meta description makes people want to click. • Headings (H1, H2) — organize your content so Google and readers both understand the structure. Off-Page SEO: • Backlinks — when other trusted websites link to yours, Google sees it as a vote of confidence. A link from a university (.edu) is especially powerful. Technical SEO: • Page speed — Google penalizes slow sites. Studies show 53% of mobile users leave a page that takes more than 3 seconds to load. • Mobile-friendliness — more than 60% of Google searches happen on phones, so your site must look good on small screens.
Match each SEO term to what it describes.
Terms
Definitions
Drag terms onto their definitions, or click a term then click a definition to match.
A local pizza shop wants to appear first when someone Googles 'best pizza in Austin.' Which action is MOST likely to help?
A Real Example: From Page 5 to Page 1
A small bakery in Denver called Sunrise Sweets was buried on page 5 of Google results. They made three changes: 1. Changed their page title from 'Home' to 'Sunrise Sweets — Fresh Gluten-Free Cupcakes in Denver, CO' 2. Wrote a 300-word page explaining their story, using the phrase 'gluten-free bakery Denver' naturally four times 3. Asked the local food blog 'Eat Denver' to feature them, earning a powerful backlink Result: within 90 days they moved to position three for 'gluten-free bakery Denver' and saw a 40% increase in website visitors.
Which of these BEST explains why backlinks improve SEO?
Write SEO Headlines for a Made-Up Website
Choose one of these imaginary businesses: a robot repair shop, a space camp for kids, or a vegetable delivery farm. 1. Decide what city or town this business is in. 2. Write a Title Tag (under 60 characters) that includes what the business does AND the location. 3. Write a Meta Description (under 160 characters) that explains what makes it special and makes someone want to click. 4. Write three H2 headings you would use on the homepage. 5. List two other real websites that might link to this business and explain why. Share your work with a classmate: Did they use keywords? Is the title the right length?
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