The name "search engine" sounds very mechanical but, in reality, a search engine is a computer software application not far different from the applications on your own PC.  For the top search engines the difference is the size and power of the computer which the engine is running on.  Some of these engines are claiming to have indexed more than 50 million pages on the Web. 

Basically, the search engines send out what is referred to as a "spider".  This is a program which finds and reads the content in Web Sites.  The "spider" collects data from each Web Site and creates a summary of the contents of each site it visits.  In the process the sites are "indexed" within the memory of the search engine computer.  When someone does a search on the search engine the computer checks its' index and "matches" the search words with the words which have been indexed for each site.  Those sites with matching words are then listed in the results.  If your site is "rated" as being a match or close match it will appear high in the results.   Professional Webmasters always try to assemble a web site so that it appears on the first or second page of the results. Maintaining the search engine positions requires constant attention and regular re-submissions.  Occasional changes and additions are necessary to keep ahead of other sites.

Different Categories

There are really two different animals in this field.  There is the search engine which we have described and there is another type of site defined as a directory.  AltaVista, Excite, InfoSeek, Web Crawler and HotBot are search engines.   Whereas a site such as Yahoo is considered directory.  The directories utilize a more involved process in selecting and indexing the information they contain.   Yahoo utilizes humans to read and index the sites.  Because of this, Yahoo often gives better search results.

Who is The Biggest and The Best?

Well, it is hard to really compare the engines.  By pages indexed?  As of last year Alta Vista claimed 100 million pages in their index.   HotBot at 80 million and Excite at 55 million rank up there. InfoSeek (30), Lycos (30), Northern Light (30 to 50), and Web Crawler(2).  But, we might also look at the quality of the matches returned and at other factors.  It is really up to the individual user to determine which they like best.  There are also lesser know specialty engines which only index certain types of information.

Getting a good position on the search engine

We are receiving calls and e-mails from Realtors about the performance of their web sites on the search engines.  All ask why their sites or the major franchise sites are not up on page one or two of the search engines.  There are many reasons.  In designing a web site there is a whole list of do's and don'ts which affect search engine position.  These cover things such as meta tags, keywords, page titles, content and hyper links.  The major franchises do not appear because they are not keywording their sites for local area searches and are depending upon national advertising about their web sites to get readership. If you are trying to improve the position of your web site on the engines e-mail us for a free information package. info@gawassoc.com

Keywords

The term "keywords" refers to the words and phrases implanted in a web site for the benefit of the search engines.  The engines record these words and phrases as a part of indexing your web site.  The latest piece of news in this arena is the use of the word realestate.  That's right, real estate spelt incorrectly.  Many do spell it this way and the engines are indexing under this spelling. Information Links The Hyperlinks below will take you to the sites described.  These sites provide a wealth of information about the Internet.

The Internet Real Estate Newsletter is published by Glenn Weilbacher of GAW Associates, an Internet Marketing Firm.

Click here for: Part I - How the Internet Works

Click here for: Part II - Don't Get Stuck on the Web

Published: June 10, 1998

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