How Search Engine Works

One most frequently asked questions that we come across from new webmasters is, “Why isn't my website seen on Google?” This tends to become night mare for them, which is normal, because they have invested handsome amount to launch their sites. They understand very well the importance of a site's presence in at least the top 20 search results of the search engine. The reasons why it doesn’t happen with their site is not known to them. Well, it's about Search Engine Optimization, the complexities of which have always puzzled many web site owners. Some of them have also turned out to be utter flops by paying out money to certain snake oil marketers, who guarantee to take their sites to the top within only a couple of days. It's not something like a black art or magic! Remember, simply paying out money can never bring in traffic to a website.

This is no magic; neither there's any big secret! It's all about understanding how search engines work, followed by logical analysis of why some sites are found on Google, while others are not. So what all are going on inside the guts of a search engine?

How Search Engines Work?

There are three softwares that function to make a search engine work like the way it works. These soft wares are:

• The Spider Software
• The Index Software
• The Query Software

All you need to do is to understand the functionality of each of these softwares. Let me try to put things in the simplest way.

The Spider software: The Spider Software is a metaphor that crawls all through the web in search of new pages or information. Once the software tracks a page that is not included in the search engine, it collects it and add to the search engine indices. The spider software doesn't visit a web page to grab the images and designs, although it works exactly in the way the browsers like Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Explorer functions. The difference between the functionality of these browsers and that of the spider software is that these browsers track every single content of a web page including images and designs, while the spider software tracks only the text, links and URL, which is the source of the content. The spider software is not interested to display anything, but tracks as much data as possible within least span of time.

The Index software: The index software grabs all the information sent out to it by the Spider software. The index uses a complex algorithm to create a meaningful structure by analyzing the set of information sent by the spider. This information includes links, pages, URLs etc. that are analyzed and judged by the complex algorithm of the Index software. Scores are assigned according to the importance of the page and lets the Search Engine know how important the page is for a specific set of searches. This index software stores the entire set of information to make it available to people, who search for the information stored in it.

The Query software: Finally, the Query Software lets you ping the search engine with your queries. It is what we see while using a search engine. Putting it in simpler words, the query software runs when you click open a search engine. It apparently looks too simple, but it has a complex functionality at the back end, which gives out a set of results for each specific search. When the query software runs it shows you a box that allows you to type your query or their search terms.

When you type a search word and hit the search button, the query software sent your information out to the index software. The index software tallies your search word to the set of information stored in its bank and gives you a huge volume results that match your query. These search words are what we call KEYWORDS that pillars the success of a website. Keywords are the words that people use to search for desired information. There are millions of keywords and you need to induce only the right ones – the ones that suit your site the best. Simply putting a set of keywords in your site's Meta Keywords area may not give the desired result. It is here where good content finds its importance. “Content is The King”, I repeat once again! All you need to do is to use the right keywords in the right place flaringly in your content. An experienced content writer knows it best.