First, a look at how it works. Search engines use automated software programs that scrutinize the Web and develop their informational databases. Statistics composed from each web page are then added to the search engine index. After you enter a question into a search engine site, your input is compared to the search engine’s index of all the web pages it has analyzed. The best links are then returned to you as hits, ranked in order with the best results listed first. This is based upon how relevant they are to your query, and which sites rank highest by visits and keyword saturation. Most search engines will look for words and simple phrases. The more common a word is on a page, compared with its rate of recurrence in the general language, the more likely that page will be to appear among the search results, and at what position.
Search engines are also making significant strides in an effort to comprehend what is intended by the query words. For instance, a good number of search engines now offer elective spelling adjustment. If you type in a word, and it is possibly misspelled, the engine will actually ask you if you meant to spell it that way and offer...