Introduction to Search Engines

Search engines have become ubiquitous on the World Wide Web. With literally billions of individual web pages available for viewing, search engines are vital for finding information, products, news, and more.

It is no wonder that most users start with a search engine when surfing the Web. As a result, most web sites receive a majority of new visitors from search engines. In order to achieve the traffic required to make a site successful, it is important to understand how search engines work and how to maximize your placement within search engines.

Search engines come in all shapes and sizes, but all have the same goal in mind. The user enters a query and the engine returns a list of web sites specifically compiled to match the user's query. Some search engines offer additional features, such as the ability to search for images, audio and video files, current news, and more.

In addition, there are meta-search engines. Literally, they are search engines that compile results from multiple search engines.

Even with so many search engines available, a select few have a majority share of the search engine market.

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