You use one every day, you couldnt find anything without it on the Internet, but do you know anything about it?

What does it mean?
The search engine stores information about a large number of web pages and people use it for faster surfing on the Internet. A search engine is designed to find information by retrieving the stored data that matches the one in which the user is interested in. Web crawlers are used to organize the web wide words creating a copy of all visited pages to be processed by a search engine that will index them, making the search faster. Site pages are indexed depending on certain criteria like area of interest, keywords, information novelty. However sometimes non-relevant pages are found and people have to search deeper in order to find what they want.

How does a search engine work?
The search engine doesnt rely on past experience or ask questions to ease your search like a librarian does. If you need to find something about health for example, it will find pages that have the word health in the titles, in the first paragraphs and in its content. The frequency of the keyword on a site is very important. A higher frequency will keep the site in top or offer it a certain position depending on the competitions sites as well. However, some sites, that exaggerate the number of keywords repeating them too much, are penalized for spamming.

Search engine optimization
Everyone wants to be in the top ten because the higher you are in position, the more money you make. Using detailed information about search engine optimization will improve your ranking and, most importantly, your displayed position. Search engine optimization actually means designing your site to make it more appealing for the web crawlers. From millions of sites, about ten of them get to be displayed on the first page. Therefore, every webmasters goal is to have their site listed among the first ones in a search engine. This is how they increase the number of people accessing their pages.

The first thing to have in mind is to use target keywords. This is very important because people search info using target words. The better optimized on some keywords your site is, the faster it will be displayed on the first page. For example, if you have a site about traveling to Italy, then your keywords will be Italy traveling. Your keywords should contain 2 or more words because one word will be to general and you risk being eliminated from the first 10 sites. There are a lot of search engine web sites and each has a different ranking algorithm. A site can have a different positioning depending on the search engine the user is looking with. Keep this in mind, it really doesnt matter which search engine you use, just search using relevant keywords and you can get your results faster and more accurately.

The position of your keywords is also very important. Using keywords in the title tag and giving it an attractive look is essential and will get you a higher ranking on the search engine. Making the titles short is another good idea. No one likes long boring titles. Also use the keywords in the headlines because any search engine will tend to raise pages that have the keyword on top. You should also have a relevant content. Your keywords should match the topic and it is preferable to use HTLM whenever possible because this will not only impress the visitors, but will also put you on the top of the page. HTLM links are a must. Avoid using frames because frame links can not be followed and this will decrease your ranking in the search engine display. Also dont forget to expand your text! For example Italy traveling may include travelers or traveling tips or any other related words.

Link building is not to be neglected. Any search engine uses link analysis to rank sites. They usually do this because webmasters tend to fake good links and try to spam the search engine. It is important to study your competitors keywords, use alternative text and insure that pages are accessible through regular links (avoid using Java, JavaScript or Macromedia flash). Spamming and the use of deceiving techniques may get your site banned or penalized by the search engine web sites. Spam mail has to be avoided too because this degrades the value of the search engine listing and you end up cheating on yourself.

Submit your sites to search engines by using two or three pages that summarize your web site content and also try to avoid the aid of submitting programs. This method helps you see when a problem occurs. Sometimes it lasts up to a month or two before your submitted pages appear listed. Some search engine sites may not even accept to list every page so patience is needed. After your pages get listed, you have to monitor the listing every week because errors may occur and your efforts have to be directed in the right way. Knowing your situation in the search engine will help decide which improvements have to be made and what investments are necessary.

Now, that you know a few things about search engine necessity and how things work, you can either make your own site available for a larger number of visitors or you can find the information you need easier.