How Search Engines Really Work

How Search Engines Work

Search engine ranking is often misunderstood. How does one boost his site's ranking on a search engine?

For most of the current search engines (Google, Dogpile, MSN) there’s very little you can do. When they find you, you get “indexed." In order to get indexed the first time, your site must have a link from some other site that they have already found.

The main exception to that rule is Yahoo, to which you can submit your site. We would recommend that you submit to Yahoo. Being listed on Yahoo guarantees that your site will be found by the other major search engines.

For Google, your rank in the search is determined by a number of factors, but mostly who you "associate with." In this case that means who links to you. The more people who link to your site, the better your ranking will be. Find out more about how Google works by checking out our previous blog on "The Google Monster."

What does this mean for you?

Simply put, if you want a good search ranking then you need to keep a great site. People link to great sites. Most importantly, you need interesting and dynamic content. Web users link to sites that they find useful or encouraging.

Creating online devotionals, journals of thoughts and other candid content will increase the probability that someone will find the information useful. Anything you can add to your site like this will increase your odds of a good search ranking.