Algorithms

Algorithms are not just terms you hear being used frequently in Star Trek, they are also the foundations for good search engines. In short and in search engine terms, an algorithm is a set of rules that governs each websites position in relationship to others containing the same keywords and phrase. For example, with two websites selling the same unique product, they both cannot be listed at position one so the search engine has to decide which is the more relevant website for the given search phrase and show it above the other in the search results. Just because one website shows above another for one phrase, it does not mean it always will for others. There are hundreds of factors which affect ranking in search engines many of which we can only guess at.

These algorithms are very closely guarded secrets because should they become known, then website owners could easily change or create websites to become the first site listed for certain keywords or phrases. This happened early on in the Internet boom and search engines would return results that were completely irrelevant to the searcher. The more relevant results a search engine returns then more people will use it and so the more work search engines put in to ensure highly focused results are returned to searchers.