How Do Search Engines Work?
July 28th, 2008Last month’s column introduced the concepts of website ‘Search Engine Optimization’ and its value as a marketing strategy for your own company’s website.
To continue with this theme, this month the principles of how the search engines work are discussed.
Understanding what a search engine is and how the major ones like Google work, is an important aspect to grasp if you’re going to optimise your website. Once the basic concepts have been understood, then it’s easier to build a website that may be effectively promoted in Google.
Directories and Search Engines - What’s the Difference?
What’s the difference between a search engine like Google and a web directory such as Yell.com? Search engines are huge databases that regularly browse the web in order to catalogue it. Once catalogued or indexed as it is known, references to the websites they find are stored within their databases in readiness for when people like you and I visit their search page in order to search for a particular type of website. The entire process is automated without any human intervention. This cataloguing or indexing of the web is done using pieces of software called ‘Search Engine Spiders’ or ‘Search Engine Robots’. Spider software is controlled by complex mathematical processes called algorithms which are unique to each search engine. Exactly how these algorithms work is a closely guarded secret, but through experience and following published rules, a website that assists the spidering process and conforms to the needs of an algorithm, has a greater chance of being listed highly within a search engine’s results. Take a look at www.google.co.uk/webmasters for Google’s published rules on optimising your website.
Directories, of which there are many examples on the web, Yell.com being a popular one; are essentially online versions of paper directories like the Yellow Pages or the Thomson Local. They do not index the web using Spider software like search engines in order to establish their entries, but instead rely upon humans to manually add entries to their databases. Directories generally group entries or websites that are similar to each other, together into subject and regional categories e.g. “Accountants in Leeds” or “Hotels in Wakefield”. Many online directories often contain a keyword search form on their home page that helps filter the contents of their categories for the User of their site. Search engine optimisation has no impact upon the results you may find in an online directory.
Getting your site listed in a particular directory is usually a matter of submitting your website’s link to it. Look for a “Submit My Site”, “Add My Site” or a “Get Listed” link somewhere on the directory’s website. Many directories charge an inclusion fee in order to list a website link; however this can often be worth the cost if you feel a particular directory is popular amongst your target customers. Some of the more popular web directories such as Applegate (www.applegate.co.uk) can make a positive impact upon your website’s PageRank value (more on this matter in later columns), so it’s worth considering getting your site listed in the most popular web directories where you can and if your budget can stretch to their inclusion fees.
Next month’s column will talk about what Google is looking for in your website and will introduce the concepts of ‘keywords’.
Jaimie Dobson is a director of Heckmondwike based digital marketing agency Keyclicks UK Ltd
Note: This original article by Jaimie Dobson was orignally published in the Business Matters section of The Weekly Press
newspaper on the 25th July 2008
