Search Engines Explained (Part 2)

Now that you have a basic understanding of how Search Engines (SE) find and index web content, we'll take a look at what happens when a searcher types in their search keywords.

It's truly amazing that you can type in a few keywords and within seconds be presented with hundreds of relevant web sites.  Imagine going to the library and telling the librarian "used cars".  The librarian will probably look at you for a couple of seconds, then start asking you questions so they can get you the exact information that you are searching for.  SE do not get this chance.  They have to return results (commonly referred to as Search Engine Result Pages or SERPs) with only the information they are given.

Every SE has its own proprietary algorithm (set of rules or formula) for finding and ranking web sites.  This algorithm is a tightly guarded secret, so SE marketers don't get an upper hand in manipulating their web sites for better rankings.  But we can discuss what generally happens when a SE is given a search query.

SE's algorithms use a combination of on-page factors and off-page factors to rank web pages.  On-page factors include having the keywords appear in the title tag, or appearing near the top of the page, or having the keywords in special formatting like bold or bulleted lists.  Webmasters have great control over this aspect and are constantly tweaking their pages in hopes of gaining higher rankings.  Off-page factors, those factors which webmasters don't have much control, include link analysis (determining what a page is about and whether that page is deemed to be "important") and click through analysis (rewarding pages that actually get clicks and dropping pages that do not).  Much more about this topic in future posts.

Pro Tip: A web site that has well research keywords that are placed in strategic areas on the web page AND an abundance of links from other web sites that are topically related will result in better search result rankings.  This will help insulate you from the ever changing SE algorithms.

Finally, let's talk about SE spamming or the attempts by some webmasters to artificially inflate a web page's relevance and gain a higher ranking.  Although it is rare that a SE will target an individual web site and remove it from its index, it does happen.  Instead,  a SE will  look at the tactics that spammers are using and will adjust their algorithms to either penalize or reduce the importance of those tactics.  The classic example of this was the stuffing of keywords into the meta keyword tag.  This was so abused, that the SE have now all but ignored this tag.

Let's face it, SE are in the business of providing quality SERPs to its customers, the searchers.  They are not in the business of promoting your web site.  Stick to the tried and true formula of providing quality content and have lots of topically related links into your site.  You must make your web site relevant to your target audience first, then the SE will reward you with high rankings for your keywords.

Next time we get together we'll discuss the SERP itself and what that means to your business.