How do search engines work? That is a question foremost in the minds of countless Internet users who use search engines on a regular basis. They know that a search engine is essential to finding specific information on the vast expanse that is the World Wide Web, but its process for coming up with results remain a mystery to many. The way we understand it, this is how search engines work:
All about the keywords
Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines are designed to provide users the best websites that most closely correspond with the words they enter into the search bar. These words are known as keywords, and these keywords are central to how search engines do their job.
Every single page that search engines find on the Internet is kept on a simple record, and this record or list of pages is known as an index. When a user enters a keyword, the search engine will reference this index—which contains trillions of pages—and decide which sites relate cohesively with that keyword the user entered. The sites that the search engine will deem to be the best fit for the keywords entered will appear at the top of its search results page (SERPs), with several other website suggestions underneath it.
Very complex algorithms
When judging which pages to show on Page 1 of its SERPs, Google takes about 200 factors into consideration, and runs them through very complex algorithms that are designed to constantly look at, among other things, how relevant a website is to the search as well the number of people who actually talk about that website. Among those factors Google reviews are the speed in which the site is loaded by its web server, the number of people who like its Facebook page as well as how recently the site was updated.
Search engine optimisation
The rise of search engines has also spawned an entirely different industry, which we now know as search engine optimisation or SEO. There are a number of definitions for SEO, but the closest that comes to capturing its essence is the one that says it’s a collection of techniques that a website owner can use to improve his or her site’s position in the SERPs. These techniques basically try to telegraph how Google and its algorithms decide to pick the sites for Page 1 of the SERPs, and use it to their advantage and land the top spot for a given keyword.
However, with Google and other search engines updating their algorithms on a regular basis, what could land a website on the first page today may not work tomorrow. That is why some webmasters make sure they have an SEO specialist keeping their websites updated to ensure consistent high ranking in the SERPs. That is one of the many services that we at Shaperedge can provide easily enough. Just give us a call, and we’ll be discussing options that will help keep or even improve the visibility of your website in the search engine results pages of Google and other major search engines.