The Internet is a vast network of information, holding subjects beyond belief or count. The only way to find the exact information that you want, short of already knowing the web address, is through the use of a search engine. Search engines utilize web crawlers to explore the Internet, following every link on every website, and then they index the results. This indexed information is used to provide results for the search terms that are entered.
The most commonly used search engines are
Google,
Yahoo! Search, and
Bing. While quite a few smaller endeavors exist, these are the forerunners in the industry, and each has its own following. See this
Search Engine List. Google has become a very important name on the Internet, having introduced a new method of sorting results called
PageRank. This ranking system displays results based upon the number and quality of sites which link to a particular webpage. The system operates under the assumption that more links to a site indicates higher popularity and relevance. After Google, Yahoo Search is the second largest search engine on the web, followed by Microsoft's search engine, Bing.
Due to the great importance of search engines, optimizing websites to increase rating and visibility has become an industry of its own. Various methods have been developed to ensure that search engines take notice of a particular website, including cross linking, meaning linking together pages of the same website for easy navigation, and adding relevant keywords. These will increase the overall popularity of the website, as the search engine judges it, and once the search engine believes it is popular, more actual web traffic will be able to easily locate the site. At WebsiteBusiness.com, we are always here to help!
Above image from http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/google-remains-the-top-search-engine/.
