Day 3

How do search engines rank the stuff they find on the internet?

Search engines operate algorithmically or are a mixture of algorithmic and human input. There are differences in the ways various search engines work, but they all perform three basic tasks:
1.They search the Internet -- or select pieces of the Internet -- based on important words.
2.They keep an index of the words they find, and where they find them.
3.They allow users to look for words or combinations of words found in that index.

Crawler-based search engines, such as Google, create their listings automatically. They "crawl" or "spider" the web, then people search through what they have found. If you change your web pages, crawler-based search engines eventually find these changes, and that can affect how you are listed. Page titles, body copy and other elements all play a role.

Human-Powered DirectoriesA human-powered directory, such as the Open Directory, depends on humans for its listings. You submit a short description to the directory for your entire site, or editors write one for sites they review. A search looks for matches only in the descriptions submitted.

http://searchenginewatch.com/2168031

2. Who, or what, makes one page (that you might get in your search results) more useful than another one, so that it is put at the top of your search results?
One of the main rules in a ranking algorithm involves the location and frequency of keywords on a web page. Sometimes it is called the location/frequency method, for short.

If the word "Snow" is entered into a search engine, pages with the search terms appearing in the HTML title tag are often assumed to be more relevant than others to the topic.

Search engines will also check to see if the search keywords appear near the top of a web page, such as in the headline or in the first few paragraphs of text. They assume that any page relevant to the topic will mention those words right from the beginning.Frequency is the other major factor in how search engines determine relevancy. A search engine will analyze how often keywords appear in relation to other words in a web page. Those with a higher frequency are often deemed more relevant than other web pages.




http://computer.howstuffworks.com/search-engine.htm/printable


what are some of your favourite search engines? why do you like one more than others?

I like to use google, i have used it for many years to search for all kinds of information. I know of other search engines but tend to just always use google out of habit and because i find it very easy to use. Google brings up a lot of good sites and I have never felt the need to look elsewhere for information. I have used alta vista during this course but find that google is just as good, and has a lot more information and many websites that bring up key words i have searched for. I have never had much trouble with finding information on google so i use it for all my internet research.