Our search uses an AND-match across multiple fields (URL, domain, title, description, body and—if available—H1/H2/H3, Open Graph metas, canonical URL).
Candidates are then scored and sorted in several steps:
- Field weights: Strong signals are title, H1, OG title, and domain. Medium: URL, description. Lighter: body/H2/H3/OG description.
- Domain match: Exact label matches (e.g., foo in foo.example.com) are weighted more than partial matches.
- Phrase bonus: The full query phrase in title/H1 yields a small bonus.
- Freshness: Recent content gets a gentle boost based on last update.
- Thin/error pages: Very short content or HTTP errors (4xx/5xx) receive slight penalties.
- Domain diversity: We cap the number of results per domain to keep variety.
- Ads: Ads are labeled, do not influence organic ranking.
This overview explains principles without exposing exact weights (which may change).