This is a very good question and here's your explanation. Search engines index pages across the world wide web every so often. They work tireless like a librarian cataloging books on the shelves in the library only they are gather information from millions of sites across the web. Just like the librarian follows a system to catalog books, the search engines use a system to index sites. The system they use is based on a set of rules called a algorithm. There are several factors that play into the equation but one is relevance. The process of tweaking sites to match these factors is called search engine optimization.
If your site is highly relevant, the search engine notes this in the equation and looks for other factors to determine ranking like traffic. If your site gets one or 2 visitors in a month then the search engine notes this and your site will be indexed accordingly. In the end, the site that gets found in the query is the one that ranks the highest for all of the factors in the algorithm. The search engines use all of the data they collect and match sites by relevance to the query.
Another way of putting it, is think of a client at a restaurant that orders Hawaiian Chicken. The waiter takes their order and 10 minutes later voila . . . the best Hawaiian Chicken the have tasted! So search engines take orders (queries) from users looking for information and then serves them a listing of the most 'appetizing' sites!
less
This is a very good question and here's your explanation. Search engines index pages across the world wide web every so often. They work tireless like a librarian cataloging books on the shelves in the library only they are gather information from millions of sites across the web. Just like the librarian follows a system to catalog books, the search engines use a system to index sites. The system they use is based on a set of rules called a algorithm. There are several factors that play into ...more
