Search engines provide
information to the general public. The internet
search engine has become the number
one way in which consumers find businesses from which they want to make a
purchase. It is important that companies are ensuring that their pages will
show up when consumers begin their search. People search for everything using a
search engine; from cat videos to where they want to get their hair done. The
following are things that search engines use in order to speed up an individual’s search.
Preprocessing Website Content
Search engines are able
to save time when they preprocess data. This means that when someone asks a
question to the search engine, instead of sending it through a million
different websites, processed data is used and matched with the query. In order
to preprocess this data, crawlers are periodically sent out in order to collect
information fromweb pages. Specialized computer programs retrieve the pages in
order to extract words and store them with the links to corresponding pages. Users’
queries are then matched against the massive index file created.
Results Prioritization
URLs, or links, that
are produced when someone conducts a search typically come in the form of at
least a few pages’ worth. However, resulting links are not always relevant to
the query. In order for users to gain access to the information that is most
relevant to what they are seeking, search engines use algorithm strategies in
order to rank the content. Term-frequency-inverse document-frequency is a
common ranking method that considers how words are distributed, how often they
are used, and then generates numerical weights for each word that signifies its
importance within the document. This allows the production of word weights
equivalent to highly frequent words.
Context
In order for links that
are the most relevant to be identified quickly, some search engines will
compare the terms used during the query with contextual information. An example
would be previous queries made by the same user. This technique is also
commonly called query catching, and involves the process of collecting words
used in recent searches, and then using these words to refine the current query
taking place. Another method of speeding up information provision is through
the use of what is known as a distributed delivery model. This model compiles
the index and then duplicates related content and moves it to multiple
locations. This shortens the distance that exists between users and the content
they are searching for.
Limitations
Nothing is perfect. Some
methods for speeding up the rate in which results are provided cost money. Sometimes,
rotting links can happen. Rotting links are links to pages that no longer
exist. New links can also be missing. Rotting links and missing links can both
exist due to crawling/re-indexing delays. By testing your content regularly,
you can ensure everything is up to date and working how it should be and that
your site is where you need it tobe.