Search engines have highly advanced systems that enable them to provide relevant web results when internet surfers use their system in search of information. Here is a very simplified explanation of the decidedly complex behind-the-scenes modus operandi of search engines.

Use of spiders - Search engines crawl the web, employing automated programs called spiders or bots. The hyperlink structure of the web allows these spiders to crawl an estimated 8-10 billion of the approximately 20 billion pages and documents that make up the World Wide Web.

Indexing of Documents - These pages that are crawled are then indexed. This refers to the process of storing the pages in a humongous database of documents, which goes to make up the ‘index’ of the search engine. This index is managed with a great deal of precision and accuracy, enabling the search engine to search through billions of documents and complete the search request in a matter of seconds.

Sequence of Search Queries - Every time an internet user enters in a search query, the search engine accesses its index and retrieves from it all the documents that match the search query. The manner in which the search query is entered has a huge influence on the search results. Putting the same search query in quotes would result in completely different results than if the search query was entered without quotes. This is primarily because a match is determined only if the web page features the phrase or term in the same manner that was specified by the user.

Ranking of Results - The search engine’s inherent algorithm further runs another set of highly advanced calculations on each of the results in order to determine those results that are the most relevant to the query entered by the surfer. These results are sorted out on the search engines search pages in a descending order of relevancy, making it easier for the user to choose a starting point.

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