If like many first time clients, you are baffled by the process of search engine optimisation, the following is a basic overview of how search engines work and a few tip you can follow to ensure that your website performs well. Alternatively, you can leave everything to us and we'll put together a full SEO strategy proposal for your business.

How does a search engine work?

Well there are a number of stages in the search engine process. This is what they have to do:

  1. Collect content
  2. Sort and store content
  3. Determine importance
  4. Display results
  5. Display ad's and make money.

Each one of these stages is covered below.

1). How does a search engine collect content?

Search engines, such as MSN, Google and Yahoo operate their business by making a copy of the web- they take snapshots of websites as they crawl the web. They perform this by something known in the industry as a web spider. Web spiders are automated programs which go from website to website, devouring their content and sending it to huge databases to store and sort. The web spiders follow links on websites to bounce between sites- this is why it is important to build links which will enable your content to be collected.

2). How does a search engine sort and store content?

This is different for each search engine on the web- however the main principle is the same. As they are all trying to collect as much data as possible, search engine companies have huge data stores. When your website has been downloaded it is sorted in a database.

3) How does a search engine determine importance?

In order to determine how important content is, the search engines try to work out a number of factors.

  1. What is this content about? What category does it fit into?
  2. What is the word count frequency in relation to the content
  3. How relevant is this content to the above category?
  4. How many links does this website receive across the internet? Do other companies think this website is relevant by linking to it?
  5. Is this website frequently updated, or is the content the same as it was three years ago? Is it outdated?
  6. Is this website semantically correct? Will it work on multiple devices?

All of the above make a difference as to where your website appears in relation to your competitors. Our further article on building traffic offers some ways to attract links, build content and ultimately, new customers.

4) How does a search engine display and rank results?

Search engines determine how to display results by using patent protected and frequently changing algorithms. Trying to work out how these work is difficult to say the least however industry experts frequently conduct experiments which we can draw conclusions from. It is worth noting that Google's business model operates on the fact that we can't put our finger on exactly how it works. Anyone who tells you they can guarantee results is either trying to sell advertising or is a liar. Be extremely cautious.

5) How does a search engine display ads? How do search engines make money?

Many people are still baffled as to how search engines make money. They are baffled still when it comes to website ad revenue. Many search engines, particularly Google, who pioneered the art of the 'PPC' (pay per click) advertising model make huge sums of money each day. How? It comes down to maths. Google serves results for hundreds of millions of searches each day. People pay Google for advertising space, with links to their website. This is known as pay per click. All it takes is one out of every 10 or 15 searchers to click on an ad, at say an average of £0.50 per click to reach quarterly earnings of £5 million. Results and ads are generally separated to distinguish them- however the fact that people know they are ads is a strength rather than a weakness. Because people are actively looking for products, and ads are tailored to what people are searching for, this means they convert extremely well- resulting in well placed advertising spends. In short, pay per click works.

We implement pay per click advertising for companies large and small. Contact us today for a free consultation.