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Introduction to Search Engines
Search Space Positioning
Search Space Positioning refers to process of achieving a prominent
position in the search results that appear once someone has made a query.
Achieving a more prominent position is goal of Search Engine Marketing
(SEM) or Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
Let’s taker a closer look at what all this involves. Firstly, let’s take
an overview of the different sorts of Search Engines.
Types of Search Engines
The goal of all types of search engines, naturally, are to help the search
find the websites that are the best match for what they’ve been seeking.
Different search engines draw their results from different sources. In
reality many search engines will be a blend of two or more different
‘types’, although there are some ‘pure’ search engines of their type.
Directory Search Engines draw their results from listings
that businesses have directly submitted to them (somewhat like the yellow
pages). So when you search for ‘shoe store’ businesses that are listed
under their ‘Shoes’ section will show up. Some Directory Search Engine
Listings are free, other charge a fee to be listed upon (usually because
they generate sufficient traffic to justify their fee). There are online
versions of the ‘yellow pages’ and there’s the Yahoo Directory that will
both cost a few hundred dollars a year to be listing upon. Or there’s the
famous Open Directory Project (ODP) to which submission is free (assuming
you meet certain criteria).
Examples of directory based search engines
Pay-Per-Click / Paid Listing Often Search Engines work on a
bidding model. Businesses bid against one another to see who will pay the
highest fee (on a per-click basis) to receive one visitor to their
website. Sometimes for obscure or unpopular search-terms17 the
‘cost-per-click’ can be a low as a few cents. On other competitive terms
such as with ‘online casinos’, at last check the top advertisers where
paying about $12 USD for each visitor that ‘clicks through’ to their
website. Examples of pay-per-click engines are Google AdWords and
Overture.
—Other ‘Paid Inclusion’ options are simply where a business pays a set fee
to have their site indexed (and perhaps re-indexed on some regular basis);
however usually this does not guarantee any particular preferential
ranking and may only be advised in certain circumstances.
Examples of Pay Per Click Engines
Organic Search Engines are those that send out ‘web robots’,
‘web spiders’ or ‘web crawlers’ (used interchangeably) to search the
Internet and index the websites that they find in a giant database. When a
user types in a search-term17, the search engine uses its own proprietary
process to decide which websites are the most relevant (out of the
millions it’s indexed). These are then displayed in the results. Organic
Search Engines often tend to be the most popular type with web users
because they store the largest number of pages. Also, unlike the other
types, it is not necessary to pay fee to get a listing or upon a customer
clicking on your link. However, due to their popularity, the competition
for more prominent listings can be quite fierce.
and visible position for a user to find.
Examples of Organic Search Engines
(In around march of 2004, Yahoo took over the inktomi database, which has
now become 'Yahoo Search')
Who's going where?
According to a report in by Nielsen/Netratings, in March of 2004, 42
percent of US users went to Google, compared to 31 percent for Yahoo and
29 percent for MSN (Microsoft Network).
Of
course all the major players in the search engine market can be expected
to fight ferociously for increased market share.
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logos of the search engines belong to their respective companies.
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