Search Software and User Interface

Various Algorithms

The search engine software and user interface is where most of the magic of search occurs. Different search engines have different algorithms which weigh different page elements and links differently.

• Google is heavily reliant upon wholesale link grading across the web.
• Yahoo! Search is heavily reliant upon page content and structure.
• Teoma (Ask Jeeves) is heavily reliant upon evaluating links in a local community network.

Search Query Normalization

First, the search software must accept the user query. The query then needs to be normalized to attempt to determine what specifically the user was looking for based on the context of their search. Some search engine just text match, but many structure your query as if it was part of a sentence. The search engines must then compare this query to the items in the catalog.

Link Analysis & Factor Weighting

This is where the link analysis and relative page value are dynamically created. Every search engine is different. They all index different portions of the internet and that alone will make their results different. The biggest differences between search engines though are their link analysis algorithms followed by weighting of on page factors vs off page factors. Each claim to have the best using their own proprietary tool, but rely on many factors. Each search engine is Ideally perfect, but in reality none are.

Ranking Factors

To compensate for their inaccuracies each search engine must do its best to keep its algorithms a secret. This is what protects the quality of their results. Some things that may be used be search engines, but are not guaranteed to be used are incoming link number, incoming link quality, incoming link text, page size, keyword density and frequency in all parts of the page including text, hyperlinks, title, description, comments, keywords, headings, page file name... Just about everything matters at least a little bit somewhere, and that is a good thing to remember. Just do everything as good as you can and tweak it in as necessary.

Displaying Search Results

These search engines filter through the catalog and produce 10 - 20 search results on the search engine results page. This page typically displays matching queries in the order of relevancy with some form of advertising at the top or to the right of the search engine results. Most of the ads on search results pages are sold on a cost per click basis.