Once you have acquired an initial appreciation for how a search engine functions and in what manners those functions can be used to your benefit, you now have the chance to indulge further on your understanding of these engines and the way they work. In his lecture, Richard Vanderhurst emphasizes the importance of knowledge when dealing with SEO, so why not start with the search engines themselves? Perhaps you’ve come to realize that not all search engines are the same. Some are more popular, some are more effective and in most cases, the most effective is the most popular. But apart from popularity, these databases are classified even further into categories: Primary, Secondary, and Targeted.
Most common is the primary search engine. These are the ones that we are most familiar with when searching. They are your Google, Yahoo!, MSN and so on. Richard Vanderhurst explains that these are search engines predominantly used by the public and as such, will produce the greater part of your websites traffic flow. Because of this, your SEO efforts will usually be directed toward a primary search engine audience.
So then, what makes one primary search engine more popular than the rest? Well, take for instance, Google and its massively wide range of search results. It has become the most commonly used resource on the web in what seems like no time at all. Other primaries have been around far longer than Google has, and yet, Google still comes out on top.
It’s all in the way the site was designed. Some search engines are exactly that, a search engine, plain and simple. But if we look at Yahoo! or Google, they also have features like E-mailing and news articles, not to mention the countless other applications posted for our entertainment. These add to the websites appeal and often times will draw in more users than the dull and boring “search and only search” sites.
Of the three primaries mentioned, it should be clear that Google is the crowned leader. Richard Vanderhurst, the internet guru, will often promote the importance of Google to his students. But what makes it so special? Perhaps it is the easy E-mailing or the homepage customization. Perhaps it is one of the many other applications that beautify the search engine façade. It could be. But most likely, it’s Google’s unmatchable accuracy in tracking and retrieving search results. This acute ability to grab just what you want in the blink of an eye is its strongest point. It’s what sprung the term “Google it” into our word base. Can’t find your favorite recipe? Oh, just “Google it”. What was the name of that one Beatles song? I know the first line, I’ll “Google it”. Using major criteria such as keywords and link popularity, this search engine has developed the ability to pinpoint your search in no time.
It may not be as popular as Google, but Yahoo! comes in for a close second place. While it is a search engine, it is also a very well-kept web directory. This means that it keeps a list of every, or at least most, web pages on the net and then divides them into different categories and subcategories. But Yahoo! had some humble beginnings that many don’t know about. This search engine was initially a favorites list for the two boys who eventually became its founders. Overtime, the list grew and the idea of search engines as a public application was soon budding. Needless to say, one thing led to another and they opened business as a search engine. But some believe that because Yahoo! uses a program with paid inclusion, their results are somewhat tilted toward the highest paying sites. Their ability to rank through links isn’t as accurate as Google either.
MSN is not exactly the most established search engine, at least not compared to Yahoo! or Google. It doesn’t have the capability of analyzing links as deeply as the other primaries do. However, MSN does examine web content when ranking websites and this gives some benefit to new sites. By chiefly relying on content, the search engine will be more likely to look past a sites lack of in-depth SEO work and rank them immediately. Yahoo! and Google’s methods often prevent these new sites from joining the list for at least some period of time.