How Does a Search Engine Work

Before we get into how a search engine works, some people want to know why you even need one in the first place. The answer is simple, you need a search engine to find what you are looking for. It is like going into a huge library and needing a book on pets and not having any clue where to look. There are literally billions of pages on the World Wide Web and if you want to get the information you are looking for in seconds rather than hours then you need a search engine.

A search engine is made up of automated software which are called bots, crawlers or spiders. They are unleashed by the search engines and they do a survey on the web off all websites on the web and collect them into their databases. The information is analyzed and then the information is gathered from each web page on the website and then it is out into the search engine for indexing . Then what happens is that when you type in a subject into the search engine then they scan their data bases and then they give you results that are compatible with your search. The results start with the best and then count down.

When a bot scans a site based on how much information or how original the content is will determine the websites place on a search engine. That is why it is very important to be original if you are the webmaster. You want your site to do well in the search engines. The better you do the more results the search engine will give you. When you have duplicate content as someone else on the web or you hide pages from the bot the search engine will penalize you. That is the last thing you want.

When you are searching for something on the web, the most common form of searching is via keywording. This is how most search engines scan their databases. A keyword is any word that stands out on a webpage. For example, if you have a website about dogs and one particular dog like a German Shepard is mentioned a few times then the keyword for that page would be German Shepard. So if someone is looking for information about German Shepard's and they use that as they keyword then your page will come up in the search engine.

Now, even though keyword searches are very popular , some search engines will nit recognize a misspelled word and that may lead you into a different direction. Search engines like Google will offer you a do you mean? courtesy. In other word if want to use the Google search engine and you spell the word dog wrong and you spell it dog or doog as a type, the search engine will come back with did you mean dog? Then you can click on that it will revise your search. Not all search engines do that. So you would have to make sure that the words are spelled correctly.

Sometimes a keyword is too broad of a search so the search engines may help you better if you are more specific. Instead of German Shepard try putting in German Shepard behavior if that is what you are looking for. The search engine may have a better result than just a keyword. Search engines are great and they will get you the information that you are looking for but it is up to you to enter the right information into the search box in order to utilize the information that you are giving them.