Crawl-Index-Rank (Three-Stage Process)

Google's three-stage process: crawling (collecting pages via bots), indexing (cataloging in Inverted Index and embedding database), and ranking (ordering by quality).

Think of it like collecting books, cataloging them, then arranging on shelves by quality. Each stage needs separate optimization: crawl (fast TTFB, SSR, no mega menu >2.5 MB), index (structured data, EAV), rank (reranking based on content quality).

In the AI Search era, there's a fourth stage: Retrieved → Cited → Trusted — content must not only rank but also get cited.

In practice, audit your site separately for each stage — crawl (check TTFB and coverage in GSC), index (verify how many pages are indexed vs. should be), rank (compare positions with content quality using CQS). Problems in earlier stages block progress in later ones.