Have you noticed that you are increasingly using the search engine to find information online? Know that you are not the only one.
More and more statistics show that the number of search engine users is increasing every year.
In 2014, 40.7% of the total population on earth used search engines daily and in 2018, this indicator increased to 48.9%. By 2021, it is estimated that 53.7% of the world’s population will use search engines every day.
Observing this trend, many entrepreneurs who understand what SEO means use the power of search engines for the benefit of promoting their business.
But before you can enjoy the benefits of search engines, you must first understand what a search engine is and how its algorithms work.
Definition
The search engine is a tool with which users search for content on the Internet.
For this, users indicate the keyword in the search box of a search engine and search engines search in their database (index) web pages relevant to the user’s request and then display the results in the form of a ranking.
The list of sites in the ranking is determined by evaluating these web pages by search engine algorithms.
This whole process takes place in less than a second.
What do we need search engines for?
Today, the pace at which content is published on the Internet is dizzying and man is not able to consume so much information.
Therefore, the purpose of search engines is to structure the gigantic volume of the internet to help us find only the information we need.
How does a search engine work?
Did you know that when you perform a search, in fact, you are not searching through all the existing web pages but only through those indexed by that search engine.
The search engine index is a database that is constantly updated with the help of a robot (software, code or spider in English).
Search engine robots scan the pages of websites to identify new pages and add them to its index (database). Thus, millions of web pages are stored on thousands of servers forming the search engine index.
With such a large database, how does the search engine create the ranking of web pages on the first page of searches?
To do this, the search engine evaluates the relevance and performance of the pages in its index.
For example, Google considers 200 criteria to evaluate the relevance of a single page.
How many times is the word mentioned on the page? Is the keyword present in the page title? But in the URL? Does the page include synonyms for the keyword? Is the page part of a quality site or not? Or maybe it’s part of a spam site? And so on
Finally, search engines combine the results to create the score of each page and based on this score the search engine displays your search results.
Why is Google the most popular search engine?
For most people, Google is the main source of information on the Internet.
But how did Google come to have such great credibility on the part of the internet user?
Here are some reasons.
- Google puts the needs of its users first
Google’s success comes from the satisfaction of its users.
In fact, user satisfaction is their business model.
Google continually invests in developing its ability to understand each user’s intent and provide them with the most relevant search results or other products.
Thus, Google differs from its competitors and satisfied users have no reason to change their search preferences.
That’s why so many people are loyal to Google. - Google continues to improve its results
The first search engines could not cope with the rising tide of web pages. And as a result, their results were no longer relevant to Internet users, and they are abandoning search engines such as MSN, Yahoo, Alta Vista, and others in exchange for Google, which offers more relevant results.
Thus, Google has become the number 1 source for searching for information online.
Google engineers are constantly changing the algorithm to improve search results. Thus, the credibility of this search engine is strengthened every year.
Today, Google is so popular that it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t use this search engine. - Local searches: user intent and nearby businesses
In any modern economy, small and medium-sized businesses form the basis of the market economy.
Google understood this and saw an opportunity for itself.
They combined the ability to search the engine and track the user’s geographic location when searching to create local results. And local searches have opened the playing field for small and medium businesses.
But Google didn’t stop there and they added the Google Maps platform to local searches.
As a result, by indicating “his intention + near me” users can see the list of businesses nearby geographically and can see their location on the map.
local searches
And if you click on the “View all” button, you will see an extended list of locations where you can taste pizza in the DHA pahse 3 street region.
pizza near me 2 - Adjusting algorithms under human behavior
Although Google’s algorithm is kept secret and is free from any danger of theft, it is always adjusted under user behavior.
Google is constantly testing its results to adapt to the changing needs of its users.
At the same time, it creates impediments to spammers or those who try to manipulate its algorithms.
Many have tried to position their sites in Google by manipulating its algorithms but few have been able to benefit from those fraudulent long-term results.
Each time, Google found and penalized sites that actively used black hat optimization techniques.
Google protects its algorithms so as not to lose the trust of its users.
Search engines other than Google - The engine that protects your personal data
Positive user experience and simple and intuitive search engine interface
Google are very attractive to many users but all these benefits come at a cost.
It’s no secret that Google catalogs the browsing habits of its users and shares them with advertisers.
And if you do not want your personal data to be used for targeted advertising purposes then use DuckDuckGo.
This search engine protects your personal data and does not provide you with personalized results based on the user’s historical profile. - The most popular search engines in the United States
Bing
Bing is owned by Microsoft and is the most popular search engine in the United States, after Google.
Yahoo
Yahoo once held the title of the most popular search engine but no longer holds it.
- The most popular search engines in the rest of the world
Baidu
Baidu is the search engine that is predominantly used by users in Asian countries.
Yandex
Yandex is the search engine used by most of the population in Russia and other Eastern European countries.
How can you use Google’s power to your advantage?
Millions of internet users use Google every day
Many of these users are the audience you want as a visitor to your site, office, or store.
Google can send the most relevant traffic to your business on the site. Traffic that is already interested in the products you sell or the services you offer.
- Optimize your website using SEO best practices
More and more companies are creating websites but this is not enough to attract the target audience on the site.
In order for your site to become visible in search engines you need to get SEO services in Pakistan.
As a result, quality traffic relevant to your business will visit the company’s website. - Google Ads: the fastest way to drive traffic to your site
Few companies have a marketing team that would implement on-site SEO techniques.
That’s why Google offers these companies the opportunity to advertise on its search engine.
Any company can promote their site in search engines using Google Ads. They offer the ability to quickly create ad text and publish it to your Google partner network.
To attract relevant audiences to your business, these ads use keywords (similar to SEO keywords).
Although this option is expensive, it is still a way to generate fast traffic to the site. - Learn to use Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a free source provided by Google that allows you to view data about visitors to your site.
GA you can see which areas of the site are the most visited, how much time they spend on the site, how many pages they access being on the site, what is the age of these visitors, are mostly women or men, etc. GA is a very useful tool to create your consumer profile.
By being armed with this information, you can create more useful content for site visitors and use more effective optimization techniques. - Be present in local searches
I mentioned earlier that one of the biggest successes of the Google search engine is focusing on local searches.
This has enabled small and medium-sized enterprises to compete for visibility in searches by users in the geographical vicinity.
For example, in a local search, small and medium businesses may rank higher in searches than the sites of nationally covered companies.
Thus, ranking in the top site in local searches is a huge opportunity for small and medium businesses.
And to make your life easier, Google gives you free resources to help you get a place in local searches.
One of these tools is Google My Business where you can apply for site positioning in local searches.
Conclusions
You can find any information you need with the help of the search engine in less than a second.
Weather, food recipes, shopping, news and information of any kind, you can find them all with the help of search engines.
It is extremely convenient, fast and useful for internet users.
The question is whether your site is ranked in the top of searches when the potential customer is in the process of being informed.