Many people would like to know how search engines work. We have put together a short overview of the basics.

Most Search Engines have what is called a spider. This is a program robot that is continuously running through the internet, looking for new websites, and new links on websites. These spiders pick up any URL (Uniform Resource Locator or your website address in layman's terms) that is visible on the net. It then checks your site for keywords and ranks it according to relevancy.

For example, if your website is about tennis rackets, and your keywords say "shoes", the search engine would rank your website very low down on listings. But if your website is about tennis rackets and your keywords are "tennis rackets, tennis racket, sports, tennis balls", the search engine spider will rank your site higher. Of course this is a simplified view of the complex workings of modern search engines.

Then there is the important factor of keywords in your text. If you use these keywords in the text on your site, the search engine will see that the site really is about tennis rackets and will move it up even more.

Search Engines don't always look at keywords. Some search engines look at descriptions of your site for keywords. Others don't look at any of these, but take the title of your website.

Google has a indexing algorithm where it searches for website popularity. This is where it searches how many websites link to your site, and if you link back to them.

Search Tips

When querying or searching for items on the net. one should refine your search criteria in order to get a more precise hit. Here are some tips to help you.

At its simplest, a query can be just a word or a phrase. But with the tips on this page, you can expand the focus of your query to give you more complete results.

Look for words with the same prefix. For example, in the Search form type aud* to find audio, AudioX, and so on

Search for all forms of a word. For example, in the form type mix** to find mix, mixing, and mixed.

Search with the keyword NEAR, rather than AND, for words close to each other. For example, both of these queries, sound and guitar and sound near , look for the words sound and guitar on the same page. But with NEAR, the returned pages are ranked in order of proximity: The closer together the words are, the higher the rank of that page.

Refine your queries with the AND NOT keywords to exclude certain text from your search. For example, if you want to find all instances of mixing but not vocal, write the following query: mixing AND NOT vocal

Add the OR keyword to find all instances of either one word or another, for example: Audio OR MIDI This query finds all pages that mention Audio or MIDI or both.

Put quotation marks around keywords if you want the search engine to take them literally. For instance, if you type the following query: "audio and midi" The Search engine will literally look for the complete phrase audio and midi. But if you type the same query without the quotation marks: audio and midi The Search engine searches all documents for the words audio and midi.

Some Major Search engines

South African Search Engines

Listings

A top 10 position in the main listings is the primary objective of any Web campaign 

Most search results can be divided into three main categories:

Pay-Per-Click

Pay-per-click - rankings are calculated for keywords or keyword phrases based on the price that is being paid to the search engine. These prices are on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis and normally determined via a bidding process, the highest bidder gets the most desirable #1 spot, the second highest gets #2 etc. The most sought after keywords can have a very high price tag while less competitive words may be bought for relatively little. Whereas in the past, Internet users were reluctant to click on what they perceived to be a "bought" position, users today have realised that if the website owner is being charged for each visitor, he or she will make certain that they do in fact offer the product or service that is advertised. Pay-per-click is a very effective way of bringing immediate traffic at a surprisingly affordable price to both large and small businesses.

Paid Inclusion
Paid Inclusion is when a web page or Url is included by the search engines for an annual consideration. A top position is not guaranteed, only that the site will be included in the database, the ultimate position in the rankings of pages are determined by the search engine. Optimisation and ongoing marketing are still essential to obtain top rankings.

A Combined Approach
A successful search engine marketing campaign starts with understanding your keyword market. Free listings, pay-per-click and paid inclusion all have their respective place in the market. The key is striking the right balance between them to ensure you are getting the most out of your search engine marketing rands.