27 September 2010

How Search Engines Work!

Okay here we go this blog is meant to explain in laymens terms how search engines work in order to let clients looking for SEO services see how and why results can be achieved. Let me also start off by saying that once again SEO is not an exact science and there is Eb and flow in the search algorithm. One day your website is on top of the ranking with proper SEO and the next day you could be in sixth position. So keep in mind just develop a good system and be consistent and you should get the results that you desire. This blog will attempt to address three key points to website SEO and how the algorithm works, The Query Soft ware, The Spider or Crawler, and finally The Indexing Software.

The query software doesn’t actually search the web – instead, it checks through all the records that have been created by its own index software. And those records are made possible by the text, links and URL material the spider software collects stores and organizes. It is very important that each page of your website is clearly defined as to what that page is telling someone who is looking for something specific. Each page should have a targeted key word or words so that search engines can properly index you web page according to what people are typing in for their searches. This is where content writing and linking play a large roll in order to position the page in the right way so that it can rank high in search results.

Keep in mind that if you are trying to optimize your site in a very competitive industry with high demand key words just to position there will require a great deal of linking and allot of key word rich content adding to your site on a regular basis (Blogging) as your competitor is probably working hard to maintain the coveted top spot. So the query software does the job of collecting, analyzing and indexing web pages.

The index software is the second major component of the search engine it’s job is to make sense of the mass of text, links and URLs using what is called an algorithm – a complex mathematical formula that indexes the words, the pairs of words and so on. Essentially, an algorithm analyzes the pages and links for word combination to figure out what the web pages are all about – in other words, what topics are being covered. Then, scores are assigned that allow the search engine to measure how relevant or important the web pages (and URLs) might be to the person who is searching. While each of the major search engines (like Google, Yahoo or Bing) has their own secret algorithm for scoring, they are all using the information a spider collects. The index soft ware is responsible keeping records of you web page and website information and sorting and storing it until it becomes available for a search result. So, when you type in your search words and hit search, then the search engine will try to match your words with the best, most relevant web pages it can find by ‘searching the web’.

The third component of a search engine is the spider or web crawler which takes the information it has gathered about a web page and sends it to the index software where it is analyzed and stored. So every time you update a page or section of your website the web crawlers will visit you site in order to check the relevance of the information and sort it as well. For example if you type in Hotel in Montreal into the query box on a search engine page (such as Yahoo), then it’s time for the query software to go to work. The query software is what you see when you go to a search engine – it is the front end of what everybody thinks of as a search engine. It may look simple but the query software presents the results of all the quite remarkable spider and index software that works away invisibly on our behalf. So, when you type in your search words and hit search, then the search engine will try to match your words with the best, most relevant web pages it can find by ‘searching the web’.But this too is a metaphor and perhaps the most important one. the spider software, the index software and the query software all make up a search engine and are the most important factors to consider when designing an SEO friendly website.

The words people use – what words they type into the query box – when they search will therefore determine the results the search engine presents. So search engine optimizers want to know the words people use when they search – we call them keywords other wise referred to as ‘the words people use when they search. If you understand what these three do, then you have the foundation for getting your website to the top of the search engines. But it takes allot of work!
Dismantling the beast!

Nexonta Technologies Inc