Straight Talk about the Internet
What is a Search Engine?
The search engine is to the Internet what a card index
file is to a library. Without a card index file, finding
a book would take hours unless you knew exactly which
isle and shelf to go to and the title of the book to
look for. The Internet is complete with millions of web
sites around the world! Unless you know in advance what
a particular web site's address is, you could spend
hours, perhaps unsuccessfully, locating it. A search
engine can be described as the Internet's card index
file and could very well have information on how to
locate the web site you are interested in finding.
How do I use a Search Engine?
Unlike the library where you're likely to find only one
index file, the Internet offers more search engines than
any one individual can count. However, there are really
only about a dozen engines that account for 80% of all
searches. Having stated this, it is important to note
that several engines specialize in providing information
on web sites that are common in one form or another. For
example, a search engine may index web sites that are
"Canadian only" in content. The more popular search
engines include Yahoo!, Google and MSN Search.
Each search engine is a web site in itself. You visit
the engine of your choice by entering the engine's
address in your browser's locator area. To locate web
sites containing the kind of information and details you
are looking for, you simply enter keywords (words
synonymous to the subject material in search for) into
the search box and press enter, or click on a "go" or
"start" button. The search engine will then check its
files for all web sites that contain any or all of the
keywords you entered. The search results are then
displayed, each with a link to a respective web site.
What is the significance of being listed on a Search
Engine?
Having your web site listed on a search engine is vital
to attracting visitors to your site. Often visitors will
not know your web site's address and in fact may not
even be aware of it, but in their search for subject
material that could be related to your site, visitors
will have a better chance of finding you on the
Internet. Search engines will return tens of thousands
of pages to any search criteria. Internet users must
define their searches by using a combination of keywords
and phrases and most users will only read the first 20
to 40 returns.
How do I get listed and make it to the top 40?
Your webmaster can submit your site to search engines.
However it is possible to do it yourself simply by
visiting each search engine you want to be listed on and
clicking on a link that reads "Add A URL" or "Suggest a
Site", or something similar. Many engines are Directory
Structured and require that you navigate to the most
appropriate category before submitting your site. Third
parties or independent companies provide submission
services promising to add your site to hundreds and even
thousands of search engines. In fact you can purchase
software that will do the job for you. Not all search
engines are "mass submission" friendly. Individual
engines may not receive any or all of the data that
would enable them to index your site properly and/or
return a higher ranking. Again, it is worth mentioning
there are only about a dozen engines you really need to
be concerned with. Often submitting your URL can be best
achieved by visiting each of these engines individually
and posting the required information about your site.
Obtaining a high ranking in the returned results
requires strategy. Every search engine is different and
uses slightly different criteria in ranking the results.
At the very least it is recommended that you re-submit
to search engines about every six months. This will help
to keep your listing fresh. In developing your web
pages, keywords and other criteria which form Meta
Commands, are placed in the web page(s)' HTML code. The
use and placement of such detail is often paramount to
achieving higher rankings in search engine results.
Some very popular search engines are Crawler-Based. Such
engines robotically query the Internet by searching out
web sites and web pages and adding them to their index
files. Some of these engines perform deeper crawls in
which more pages and/or details are recorded.
Crawler-based engines may require a submission from the
web site owner before the site is crawled. Many search
engines of this nature share index or data bases with
other search engines. Many participate in the Open
Directory Project which is considered to be the largest
and most comprehensive human-edited directory. Volunteer
editors form around the world maintain this directory
(see http://dmoz.org).
Other engines like Yahoo! are Human-Powered. Individuals
review and index submissions.
The practice of submitting sites to search engines is
often referred to as web site promotion.
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