Ranking decides which pages appear and in what order by weighing hundreds of signals, tuned by machine-learning systems, that cluster into three themes. Relevance covers keyword and semantic (vector) match, freshness, depth of coverage, and how well a page satisfies the query’s intent. Authority and trust covers quality backlinks, overall site credibility, E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness), brand recognition, and trust signals like HTTPS. Page experience covers Core Web Vitals (LCP, INP, CLS), mobile usability, load speed, and safe browsing. The engine scores and re-ranks candidates from its index — not the live web — applying personalization and context before assembling the results page.
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