Search engines are like a giant filing cabinet. A filing cabinet contains drawers, and we usually put the things we use or need most frequently in the top drawer. That's not to say the things in the other drawers are not important; it's just that we have decided those things are not as important as what we place in the top drawer.
You also need to know that there are hundreds of filing cabinets, or search engines. The biggest, of course, are Google, Yahoo and MSN. There is another row of filing cabinets known as web directories. The biggest of these is DMOZ but just about all web directories complement your search engine listings by providing links to your site (and free traffic).
Today, however, we want to concentrate our thinking on search engines and how they work. Our Internet filing cabinet, as previously mentioned, has drawers. Inside each of those drawers are folders, and inside each of those folders are millions of pages of information about websites.
How Do Search Engines Gather Information?
Imagine trying to write millions of pages of information for each folder inside each drawer of a filing cabinet that is taller than Mt. Everest. I don't know about you and your typing skills but I would need an assistant or two (million). Googlebot is the famous search engine spider used by Google.
Spiders crawl the web hunting for information. Smart webmasters help the spiders by using XML Sitemaps and search engine verification codes. That does help spiders find the pages but it doesn't help with the filing procedure.
How Do Search Engines File Information
Search engines file information in their folders the same way you and I use a filing cabinet: keywords. For instance, I have a folder inside a drawer inside a filing cabinet titled Credit Cards. Inside that folder is information about the different credit cards that I have, whether I use them or not. I could have had a Visa folder, a MasterCard folder, or a Citibank folder, a Chase folder, and so on. But it's a lot easier to find what I need by having one folder called Credit Cards.
Credit Cards, then, is the primary keyword I use when searching for information in that filing cabinet. Once I'm in that folder I can use a secondary keyword, Chase, to find information about a specific credit card issuer. Circumstances in the financial industry resulted in Chase buying Bank One, and I had a credit card from both of those institutions. So, I must use another secondary keyword to find what I need.
Search engines file information using keywords and keyword phrases. They assign a relevance to each page based upon the content of the page. Search engines use a mathematical formula called an algorithm to assign relevance. You and I cannot argue with the algorithm; all we can do is insure that our page is relevant.
Page relevance means that we have used keywords effectively. The purpose of this article is not to jump into a deep discussion of search engine optimization tactics. But maybe you'll see why those tactics are vitally important to your success as an online marketer.
Search Engine Facts
About 90% of people using the Internet to find information use search engines for assistance. Today, there are more web pages than there are people on Earth. Think about that for a moment. If you were standing in a crowd that included every human being on Earth, how would Publisher's Clearing House find you to give you $10 million?
PCH would tell all the people from Arkansas to get in a corner. Then they would tell everyone to leave whose last name was not Jameson. Then they would narrow the number further by telling everyone to leave whose first name was not Larry. Only then could they easily ask each of the Larrys specific questions to determine that I am the one they need.
How Do You Increase Your Relevance with Search Engines?
You know as well as I do that thousands of entire books have been written about that very subject. That's why there is a list of relevant articles at the bottom of this one that will allow you to get additional information.
Incoming links to your website is, perhaps, one of the easiest things you can do. I'd recommend you immediately get your site listed on Reciprocal Links Directory. All is costs is a reciprocal link back to the directory, no money at all.
You should also consider an eBook I've recently written titled, How to Generate Free Web Traffic. That link will give you an idea of what it is.
Other Articles of Interest:
Article Writing and Article Marketing for Profit
Keys to Effective Article Marketing
Basic Search Engine Optimization
