A Search Engine Explained
A search engine is a device that delivers contents to you as per your query from the World Wide Web. Search engine locates the suitable content from the plethora of information available on WWW in form of links, images and web pages. These engines are based on complex algorithms and sometimes even on human editing.
A search engine uses web crawling, indexing and searching in that order to provide the most accurate results related to a particular search. Search engines work by storing information about millions of web pages that can be retrieved at the request of its user. The web crawler, or “spider,” is used as an automated web browser. It follows every appropriate visible link. The web crawler analyzes the contents of each link to determine how the pages should be indexed.
Mata tags and even words from the webpage are studied to classify the webpage and its content. All these data are stored for future usage.
Companies such as Google store all or part of the source web page, while AltaVista stores every page word for word. The information stored and indexed is known as the cache, it allows for instant updating and keeps the searching filtered with ease. An important factor for a successful search engine is its ability to provide active and useable information with minimal to no linkrot. The cache also saves an archive of a removed source that can later be access by the user after the site is updated.
Search engine users normally input a keyword or key phrase into the search field. The engine will search for their particular keyword and key phrase on the World Wide Web. The search engine index will provide an organized list of results with the best matched web pages. A short summary of each webpage describing the contents is provided along with the list.
Many filters and specialized web crawlers create a proprietary method for analyzing web pages for results. While a keyword can be found a very large amount of websites not all sites are relevant to the users purpose and companies pride themselves on result relevancy.
Increasingly search engines have been implementing a page ranking system in which each page’s descriptions, keywords and content are scanned for relevancy to the inputted keyword and their index. Pages with higher ranks get seen more often at the top of the list. If a site is linked to a high ranking website that site receives a vote that increases its ranking.
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