Search engines - How do they do it?

By Alex Wares

Have you ever wondered how companies manage to put their websites at the top of the results in Google, Yahoo, MSN or the other major search engines? Can you imagine how much money these companies make by being in the top ten each and every day? It is accepted as fact that the websites, which appear in the top ten, receive the highest number of visitors.

How do search engines work?

Although each of the major search engines have different methods, broadly speaking they work by looking for words of text (key phrases) . An example of popular local key phrase on the Costa del Sol is 'Marbella Property'. To find a site offering information on this subject, search engines look first at the titles of the website to find all those which contain the phrase Marbella Property.

To be sure that these website's 'do what they say on the tin', the search engine will then look for the repetition of these words within the meta tags, alt tags (these are descriptions within the code structure of the website) but more importantly in the main body of text on the home page, the other pages within the website and in the links between the different pages within the site.

Ensuring that the content of a website contains real text on a given subject (in this case Marbella Property) and all the points outlined above are taken care of then the website should return a result for the search term Marbella Property. Currently Google returns 1.2 million websites containing this term!

Another important factor is the number of inbound links a website has pointing to it. Google, the market leader, gives great importance on the number of inbound links from other relevant popular sites. A good example for the term 'Marbella Property', would be having a link to your website from the Marbella pages of an important portal such as Andalucia.com. The bottom line is the more websites that link to you, the more importance your website is considered and the higher your site will appear on the list.

How can a website reach the top ten?

There are a number of basic steps, which need to be undertaken. First it is important to evaluate key phrases which are commonly searched by potential customers of the website in question. Then it is important to ensure that the content and titles of the website contains these phrases. Improvements to the text content of the website is advisable immediately and as an ongoing process. Once the basics of site content and structure have been taken care of the site should be registered with the major search engines and an effective inbound link strategy should be implemented.

How long will this take?

An effective search engine optimisation strategy will take between 3 to 5 months to start returning results. Anyone who promises otherwise is lying or planning to use cheating techniques (Spamming) which often result in the website being banned from the search engines.