How Do Search Engines Work?

In the simplest of terms, search engines run automated programs, called "bots" or "spiders" that follow the links on your website to "crawl" from page to page and analyze the text content in order to determine what each page is about. The content is "indexed" and stored in a giant database of documents that makes up a search engine's "index". When a request for information comes into the search engine, it retrieves from its index all the documents that match the query.

The goal of any search engine optimization effort is to try to get the pages of your site to show up within the first two or three pages of search results. The exact rules or algorithms the search engines use to determine which pages rank the highest are constantly changing and held as closely guarded secrets to insure the quality and relevance of the search engine results pages (SERPS).

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