 How does a Search Engine work?
A search engine is an information gathering program which categorizes and lists
web sites that are on the Internet. Search engines attempt to help you isolate desired web
resources by topics by searching for keywords that you specify. The method for finding
this information is usually done by maintaining an index or "catalog" of Web
resources that can be queried for keywords or concepts entered by the user.
A search engine has three parts:
1. A spider (also called a "crawler", or "wanderer") goes out
to every available page on every web site that wants to be searchable and reads it by
using links on each page to search and read other pages on the web site.
2. A program that creates a huge categorized index from all
the pages that have been accessed and read.
3. A program that receives the user search request, compares it to the entries
in the gathered in the index, and returns specific subject results to the user.
From the web surfer perspective, search engines can be time consuming and
useless if you don't know how to use them correctly. For faster results, deliberately
narrow your search keywords and find a search engine that is already targeted to your
topic or interest. Check the help section of the search engine's web site to create
different ways to find specific information.
 
|
