Search Engines are software programs (many of which are available freely) that are used by many websites and online organizations to search for web pages. A search engine is a program that compiles web searches, so as to search the World Wide Web using a structured, textual query for specific information contained in a web search request. When web users make use of a search engine to search for a website or online document, they are seeking specific information from the internet at that point in time. Search engines collect this information and organize it according to various factors in order to return results that are most relevant to the users. This information is returned to the user in the form of a search result, which may be on the screen, a table, or some other output format.
Search Engines provide fast and easy access to information on the internet. Many businesses, organizations and individuals make full use of such services, as they want to make sure that their business dealings and personal activities are completely legitimate. In some cases, it becomes difficult to determine where the boundaries of privacy lie, and when privacy is breached, actions in violation of those boundaries can be difficult to detect or control. Search Engines provide a useful solution to this problem by bringing together both users and businesses or individuals who wish to protect their privacy. The result is the establishment of what is known as a “safe area” by most search engines, which makes it easier for users to browse the internet without having to worry about revealing too much information about themselves, their businesses or their activities.
The most popular search engines on the internet include Yahoo!, MSN, Google, and Alta Vista. All of these provide their customers with the same basic features, which is primarily how the user experiences the application of searches. Yahoo! For instance, is fairly straightforward to navigate around, since its interface allows the user to perform searches either by category or simply the keywords typed in. MSN’s most popular search engine, Google, also offers a rather simple user experience, though the site has a greater ability to be customized.
Alta Vista is probably the most well-known popular search engine. It was introduced in the mid-1990s, and is the first web browser to include a fully featured search feature, allowing users to search both for specific text and for web pages. Alta Vista combines the convenience of a web browser with the advanced features of a search engine. Many web browsers, including Internet Explorer and Firefox, have in some way integrated or are using parts of the Alta Vista code. Alta Vista has been used for years by corporate employees, as well as private individuals and businesses, and continues to gain more popularity in the corporate world, even as it continues to grow in popularity among the general public.
The most common feature of search engines is the ability to locate certain types of web pages. The major engines allow users to look up websites based on a wide variety of criteria, including the type of content, the location of the website, the popularity of the website, the number of pages located on the website, the links from other websites, and a host of other criteria. Webmasters can specify these various parameters in order to increase their ranking with the major search engines.
Search engine optimization, or SEO, involves a number of different processes designed to increase a website’s presence and increase traffic. The most important element of SEO is determining which keywords are best used to target the audience of the particular website. Keywords can refer to both the actual text on the website, as well as to any tags or keywords used within the text. These tags and keywords provide data to the search engines about the content of the website, and the engines work to rank websites according to the relevance of the tags and keywords to the particular search queries. This is referred to as SEO.
In addition to providing data to the search engines about the content of a website, search engines also track user behavior. This includes things such as how long a user spends on the site, what links are clicked through from the site, what pages a user clicks through from the site, and other such information. All of this information is collected and stored by the search engines, and they make their analysis about how to rank a site based on such factors available to them. One question often asked is what is the best search engine for a particular question? In general, the answer to this question depends upon what the site is being marketed towards.
There are many other considerations that must be made in order to make the best decisions about what is the best search engine for a particular question group. Questions such as which engine is the best for collecting email addresses, or which search engine is the best for generating leads from a web site, for example, are very difficult to answer in a generic way. In order to generate an accurate answer, it may be necessary to evaluate the situation on a case-by-case basis, taking into account both the needs of the users and the needs of the search engines.
