How do Search Engines Work?
Introduction
Search engines have two main functions, scavenging the web and building indexes. With this, they provide answers through a relevance calculation and thus show you optimal results. In Positioning MX, we have talked about searches and Internet search engines on many occasions. This led us to the question.
And it is not that there is any “secret” in its operation, but it will give us a broad overview to better understand these tools and what we can expect from them.
Simplifying the introductory concept, a search engine consists of four essential parts:
- A user interface for making search requests
- A robot or spider that searches for information on the Internet
- An algorithm that connects user requests with the database
- And a database where all the contents have been indexed
What is a Search Engine for?
A search engine is a service or a platform that allows Internet users to search for content through the World Wide Web (WWW). Anyone who enters keywords or key phrases into a search engine and receives a list of web content results in websites, images, videos, or other online data that semantically match the search query.
The content list returned via a search engine to a user is called a search engine results page (SERP).
Which Search Engine is Better?
No search engine is better than all the others. However, many people could argue that the Google search engine is the best, most popular, and most well-known. It’s so popular that people often use it as a verb when telling someone to look up their question.
Google Search Engines
Google is a fully automatic search engine that uses web crawlers to periodically scan the Web for sites it can add to its index. As a result, most sites that appear in Search results aren’t submitted manually but are found and added automatically when we crawl the Web.
Google’s next job is to figure out how to better match and display the information in its database when someone types a search query. After that, however, the scale becomes an issue. Google processes more than 3.5 billion daily searches, which is increasing yearly.
Bing Search Engines
Microsoft owns and operates the search engine and is the latest version of previous engines like MSN Search, Windows Live Search and Live Search.
Introduced by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in 2009, the search engine is currently the second largest search engine in the US, behind the significant market share of Google.
Bing has many features, from advanced filters that allow users to refine search results to image and video searches. Its instant answers feature covers sports, finance, dictionary, calculations and flight tracking—unit translation and conversion, among others.
Firefox Search Engines
Firefox is a smaller and faster web browser than the Mozilla browser and, in some ways, more secure than the Mozilla browser from which most of its code originates.
In addition, Firefox offers users a more straightforward interface and faster download speeds than Internet Explorer, the most popular web browser. As of November 2008, Firefox’s global browser market share was approximately 20%. Internet Explorer has about 70%.
Safari Search Engines
The Safari web browser is the default browser for iPhone, iPad, and macOS. It was first released by Apple in 2003 and was briefly available on Windows from 2007 to 2012. The popularity of the Safari browser has skyrocketed with the advent of the iPhone and iPad, and it currently accounts for about 54% of the mobile browser market in the US. However, Safari is like any other popular browser in most cases.
Safari on Mac OS is currently at version 11.1, which includes an update to Intelligent Tracking Prevention. This feature helps prevent a particular website from tracking the pages browsed on other websites, a process called ‘cross-site tracking’. Safari on iOS shares its version with the iOS version, which is currently at 12.1.
Chrome Search Engines
Google Chrome is a free web browser invented by Google, which is used to access web pages on the Internet. As of May 2020, it is the most popular web browser worldwide, holding over 60% of the web browser market share. Google Chrome is also a cross-platform browser, which means some versions work on different computers, mobile devices, and operating systems.
Google Chrome includes basic browser features like a back and forward button, refresh button, history, bookmarks, toolbar, and settings like other browsers. In addition, like different browsers, Chrome includes an incognito mode, which allows you to use the browser privately without having your history, cookies, or site data tracked. It also contains an extensive collection of plugins and extensions.
Edge Search Engine
In other words, Internet Explorer, Microsoft’s former flagship Internet browser, has been around for years and few people like it. That’s a huge reason why in 2015, Microsoft launched Edge, its new and improved browser. Microsoft has put a significant effort into Edge to improve the browsing experience, which has paid off.
Microsoft Edge has more than enough features and benefits that it’s a natural alternative to more popular browsers like Chrome or Firefox. If you sign up for a Microsoft account, you can sync your history, bookmarks, passwords, and more. Then, if you use Edge on a different computer, you’ll have all your browsing data available in moments.
