Search Engines

What is a search engine?

The World Wide Web is like an enormous library with new books arriving by the thousand each day and some old books disappearing. Search engines offer an index to this library. Search engines are enormous databases of Web page files that have been assembled automatically by computer programs (spiders or robots). The majority of Web surfers locate the information they seek by visiting a search engine or search directories and entering keywords in the search box provided. If you seriously hope to attract large numbers of visitors to your Web site, you must understand a little of how search engines function. Being ranked by a search engine is not enough; the majority of searchers will at most look at the top 30 of the ranked sites. If you are number 2736 or even number 80, do not expect many visitors. Search engines may be individual using one set of data or Metasearchers that search several search engine databases simultaneously. http://www.ixquick.com/ is an example of a Metasearch engine.

Most search engines are commercial companies. They may receive financial rewards through a variety of means. There must be a relationship between the number of visitors that a search engine receives and the amount they earn.

Web surfers choose favourite search engines according to the quality of search results. Search engines may evaluate the popularity of a Web site that they have ranked by monitoring surfer response. It is possible, to measure how long it takes a surfer to visit a Web site. The presumption would be that if the Web site is helpful then the surfer will spend a significant time there before returning to the search engine or perhaps not return to the search engine to continue that search. Remember that search engines are commercial and it is crucial for them that their visitors should be happy with the recommendations that they make so that they will be the favourite search engine for as many surfers as possible.

Search engines are huge databases of web page files that have been assembled automatically by machine.

There are two types of search engines:

1.   Individual search engines compile their own searchable databases on the web.

2.    METAsearchers do not compile databases; they search the databases of multiple sets of individual engines simultaneously.

ASSIGNMENT:

Select any two or three of the search engines listed above and search for:
     Connecticut compromise
Now try searching for the same subject as a phrase, enclosed in quotes:
   "Connecticut compromise". The results are different.