How Search Engines Rank Websites
When you type in a word or question in the search box, you get a list of matches that respond to your query. Sometimes potential responses run into the thousands, even hundreds of thousands. How do search engines decide which responses to show first and which to place at the end of the queue?
The order in which responses are shown is called ranking. Since your goal is to have your website ranked as close to the top of the response list as possible, it pays to understand how search engines rank sites. Search engines use complicated mathematical algorithms to select matches to a search query. Because search engines seek to display a diversified set of search results, they generally employ more than one algorithm to achieve the final search ranking displayed to the user.
There are a number of different types of ranking algorithms, including:
- Query-dependent (or dynamic) ranking algorithms rely on the user’s search terms to rank pages. Sites with greater relevance to the query terms are ranked higher in the response list. Query-dependent algorithms run when the user clicks “Go” to submit his search.
- Query-independent (or static) ranking algorithms look at site features other than the actual search terms, such as the number and importance of linked pages, to determine relevance to the query. Query-independent algorithms can be run before a search is launched and assign a quality score to each document on the web. Search engines use the quality score to determine ranking. PageRank is an example of a query-independent ranking algorithm.
- Content-based ranking algorithms use the words in each document to determine its ranking. Placing the precise search words at the beginning of a document, in the final 20 words of a document, in a bold font and in HTML elements are all ways to increase content-based rankings.
- Usage-based ranking algorithms score documents by how often they are viewed by Internet users. Data from web proxy logs and click-through rates are among the elements used to determine usage patterns.
- Link-based ranking algorithms assign scores to web pages based on the number and quality of hyperlinks between pages. Links that point to a particular page or endorse a page can help to improve link-based rankings.
The ranking of displayed query responses is dependent not only upon the results of individual search ranking algorithms, but on complex interrelationships between the various ranking algorithms. An effective search engine optimization program will take into account the parameters of both individual ranking algorithms and the manner in which they relate to and affect each other. It can be a complicated process that cannot rely solely on the hard data of science or rotely applied formulas. Manipulating the complex relationships between search engine ranking algorithms to build a highly effective search engine optimization marketing program requires the adroit finesse and intuitive insight of an experienced expert.
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