Internet Glossary |
A. Terms |
Search
Engine: A machine "tuned" by humans to index web
pages. For instance, Excite. |
Algorithm:
The way in which the search engine is "tuned". An algorithm is
the way the search engine will determine ranks - it is the way the
search engine is programmed to determine ranks. An algorithm may take
only certain things into account - like keywords in the title or link
popularity. Some engines use cyclical algorithms - meaning they may
change algorithms from week to week. |
Directory:
A list of sites compiled by humans. For instance, Yahoo! |
Spider:
A spider goes to your site and finds your pages. It then stores those
pages in a database for future retrieval by the search engine. |
Indexing:
When the search engine takes the pages from the database that the spider
has created and places them in an order based on the algorithms of that
engine. All search engines have a different indexing process - due to
different algorithms - that's why you get different results in different
engines. |
Query:
The keywords that a person types into a search box. A person is
"querying" the search engine. |
Crawling:
When the spider follows the links from the page you submit - the spider
is "crawling" your site. |
Automatic
Update: When the spider returns to your pages at periodic
intervals to check to see if you've made any changes. |
Optimizing:
You can optimize, tune or configure your web pages for a specific search
engine. This means that you are employing specific strategies for
specific engines. |
Spam:
- Using the same keyword more than three times in your keywords tag.
- Putting keywords into
your tags that has nothing to do with your actual page content.
- Using text, spacers, or
borders the same color as the background.
- Using tiny text with
keywords in an attempt to increase ranks. |
B. Search
Engines v. Directories |
There is a difference
between a search engine and a directory. A search engine is a machine -
or a "robot". A human may program algorithms for a search
engine, but a human will have nothing to do with your site when the
spider is visiting your site or the engine is indexing your pages.
A directory can be compiled
by a robot, but more often than not, it is compiled by humans. Yahoo! is
a prime example of a directory. When you submit your site to Yahoo! a
human will review your site for consideration in their index.
The lines between search
engines and directories are becoming jaded. This is because each major
"search engine" is associated with a "directory."
For instance, we used to call AltaVista a search engine. However, we
have to be careful with that terminology. When you go to AltaVista and
you type in a search - you are definitely getting results from the
"engine" part of AltaVista. But when you search down through
the "categories" - you haven't typed anything into the
"search box" - you are now getting results from a directory
(these results come from two directories - Open Directory Project and
LookSmart.)
There is a relationship
between search results in the "engine" and the directory or
directories that are associated with a particular search engine. It
appears that many search engine's algorithms have been set to include
results based on the directory. Therefore, it is imperative that you are
listed in the directory associated with each search engine. |
C. What
happens when I submit my site to a search engine? |
First, the search engine's
spider will visit your site immediately, and schedule your site for
inclusion in the search engine's index.
Second, usually within a
few weeks, the engine will place your site in their index.
Third, the spider will
revisit your site, to include any updates. Once you are included in the
index, the spider will usually revisit every two weeks. The spider will
also begin to "crawl" your site by following the links off of
the page that you submitted. This process is also called "automatic
update". With Excite - these new updates seem to be automatically
included once the spider has visited the site. However, if you are
dealing with the Inktomi spider - slurp - which gathers data for Hotbot,
Snap, Yahoo! and others, this information may not be included in each
particular engine's index for several weeks.
Fourth, when someone uses a
search engine, they type "keywords" into the search box. They
are submitting a query to a search engine. The search engine, depending
on how it has been tuned, will pull up all of the relevant sites which
pertain to that query. |
D. Variables
That Affect Ranks |
When you are optimizing
your web pages for certain engines, you must always keep in mind that
keyword frequency in text and location of your keywords, is the most
important part of how the engine will rank your pages. ALL search
engines rank pages based on frequency and location of keywords.
Some engines also are
programmed to give a boost to pages which meet the following criteria:
1. Link popularity
2. Keywords in the title,
most important keywords first.
3. Keywords in the names of
the linked pages. For instance:
<a href="educational-toys.htm">educational
toys</a>
4. Keywords in alt tags.
5. Keywords as names of
images. For instance:
<img src="educational-toys.gif" alt="educational
toys">
6. Keywords in the
description tag.
7. Keywords in the keywords
tag, most important keywords first. |
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