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Step #3
Searching
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To find what your looking for on the Internet, you will use one
or all of the following:
- Directories - A listing that is divided into named
categories and the entries assigned to the categories are partly or
entirely edited by humans. You look things up by finding a category
you want and seeing what it contains or searching with
keywords. This type of search is becoming very popular.
- Indexes - Collects all the items, extracts keywords from
them and makes a big list of sites. You search it by giving some words
that seem likely (key words), and it finds all the entries that contain
your search term(s).
- Search engines – Specifically programmed search systems
find items in their own unique way.
These special tools help you find information on the 'Net'. All
the directories and indexes are in the broad category called
search engines. The search engine will sort through millions of
pages it knows about and present you with ones that match your
topic. The matches will even be ranked, so that the most relevant
ones come first. So how do search engines go about determining
relevancy? They follow a set of rules, with the main rules
involving the location and frequency of keywords on a web page.
The easier it is for the search engine to pick you out, the better
your chance to get noticed. If your search term(s) is(are) not found, or
the engine can not match all the terms, it will find pages that match as well as
possible. Your accessibility to the outside world is limited by
the quality of the site relative to the standard requirements of
search engines. Nobody does it exactly the same, which is why the
same search on different search engines will produce different
results. It is important to focus your design for the most popular
search engines.
What factors go into the calculation?
Ranking criteria varies from search engine to search engine.
Most calculate page rankings based on these elements:
- Prominence of the keyword searched in the viewable text
Frequency of the keyword searched in the viewable text
Site Popularity, i.e. the number of
links to your site from other web sites
"Weight" of the keywords
Proximity of keywords
Keyword Placement
Prominence, frequency, and weight of keywords in the
<TITLE> tag(s)
Prominence, frequency, and weight of keywords in the <META
NAME="DESCRIPTION">
Prominence, frequency, and weight of keywords in the <META
NAME="KEYWORD">
Keywords in <H1> or other headline tags
Keywords in the:
<A HREF="http://yourcompany.com/page.htm"></A>
link tags
Keywords in ALT tags
Keywords in <!-- > comment tags
Keywords contained in the <INPUT TYPE="HIDDEN"
NAME="HIDDEN" VALUE="include list of keywords
here"> the hidden form tag
Keywords contained in the URL or site address, e.g.,
http://www.keyword.com/keyword.htm
Grammatical correctness and natural-sounding word patterns
Abstain from using formatting, repetition, and word arrangement that
could be considered as spam.
Spam is the Internet term for unwanted or false e-mails and
submissions. If a word does not pertain, do not put it in.
Search Engine Comparison
Information
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