How search engines work
Key takeaways
- Search engines use bots to crawl the web, discovering and collecting data from web pages.
- They index this data, organizing it in a massive database for quick retrieval.
- Algorithms then rank the indexed pages based on relevance and quality to provide the best search results.
Search engines help you find relevant information from millions of web pages by inputting keywords.
While the process seems simple, a lot is happening behind the scenes. By understanding how search engines work, you can improve how you search. In this article, we'll explain the three steps search engines use to find relevant content for you and their ranking algorithms.
How a search engine works:
Search engines take three steps to find and display content:
- Crawling: Google uses robots called crawlers or spiders to find and check new or updated content on the web.
- Indexing:The search engine stores and organises the crawled content in a large database. It is like a massive library; when you search, the search engine looks here to find what matches.
- Ranking: The search engine puts the results from most to least relevant. It uses algorithms to decide which results will most likely answer your query.
To learn more about each step, please read Moz's article: How Search Engines Work: Crawling, Indexing, and Ranking.
Ranking algorithms
Different search engines use slightly different algorithms to rank results, but they share many similarities. In this section, we focus on Google's ranking algorithms.
There are five criteria:
- Meaning: Google first tries to understand what you are searching for. It may fix spelling mistakes or offer suggestions based on your query.
- Relevance: Google looks for content with keywords that match your search. This can ensure the results are directly related to your query.
- Quality: Trusted and authoritative websites are considered higher quality. For example, if the website is often linked by other reliable sites, or has well-researched content written by experts.
- Usability: Pages with a good user interface, meaning they are well-designed, easy to navigate, and load quickly. Google also looks for mobile responsiveness and checks for spelling and grammar errors.
- Context: Google customises your results based on your location, search history and settings. If you use incognito mode, Google won't use this extra information to rank the content.
Do you want to know more about search engines' algorithms?
Check out these resources:
Now that you know how search engines work, you can find what you need online more easily. Ready to get started? Follow the steps in this article to start your search!
Glossary
- Search engine: A website tool that helps you find information on the internet by typing in keywords, like Google or Bing.
- Two-factor authentication: A set of rules computers follow to solve problems and perform tasks.
- User interface: The design and layout of a webpage.
End of article
