Search Engines, SEO and Web Search

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Search Engines, SEO and Web Search
By Alessandro Ballarin
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Search Engines, SEO and Web Search

• Aims of this presentation
• To have an introductory understanding of how SEs
  work in particular to their measure of relevancy.
• To examine the emergent SEO industry, its growing
  importance and effects on Web search.
• To examine the relationships of SE to SEO and Web
  search from a user perspective.
• To raise arguments, issues and questions aimed to
  a class discussion.

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Why understanding SEs is important?

• SE are now widely used by people who may want to
  find information on the web, but are not bothered
  to learn more about SE capabilities.
• People is surprised or frustrated to get millions
  of irrelevant pages.
• In order to take full advantage of SE and ever
  better Web search experience a knowledge of SE is
  needed.

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Brief Overview of SE

• SE work by matching keywords to an indexed
  database previously created (size).
• Robot software (spiders) are used to gather data
  and index web pages.
• Search interfaces basic and advanced.
• Various search features (Boolean, etc.)
• Search results are listed in order of relevancy.

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About Relevancy Algorithms

• They are the methodology by which search engines
  calculate and rank search results.
• They are usually complex, different and kept top
  secret.
• This is to be aware from extreme or unethical
  SEO professionals job.

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What is SEO?

• Stands for Search Engine Optimisation.
• The process of manipulating ranking algorithms to
  improve search result positioning for a given Web
  page.
• Pioneered by iProspect in 1996.
• Generally any big company has a SEO consulent
  nowadays.

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Job and Objectives of SEO

• Understanding the relevancy algorithms and
  techniques of major SEs (link analysis).
• Be aware of the spamming policies of various
  search engines (cloaking).
• Engineer client web pages in order to get them
  toTop 10 page results listing.

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Relationships of SE to SEO and Web Search

• Search engines and SEO play the cat and mouse.
• User are not usually aware that web searches can
  be affected by Pay-for-placement or unethical SEO
  techniques (spamming).
• Without general purpose SE, Web Search would be
  hard or impossible.

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What can be done to improve web searches?

• Create a specific regulation for search
  environment in order to
• protect users as consumers giving transparent
  result listings.
• protect SE from spamming.
• protect ethical SEO.

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Questions for discussion

• User, as consumer, should certainly have adequate
  rights and protection also within the context of
  web search. Between Pay-for-placement, adverts
  and unethical SEO techniques, user is not aware
  if results shown are the best possible out there.
  
  Could it be a better regulated
  search environment a key solution to ensure
  transparency of results for users in web
  searches?
• SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It
  essentially is the art and science of increasing
  a web site's visibility in the major search
  engines and directories across a strategically
  defined list of keyword phrases that relate to
  products, services, or information offered on the
  web site.
  Do you
  think Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
  professionals would be increasing in number or
  totally disappear in 10 years time? Why?
• What would you think to personalise the search
  engine ranking algorithm in each of your web
  searches? Maybe to include it as a super
  advanced feature for expert search users.

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Question 3Personalise Ranking Algorithm

• Let the user choose the ranking algorithm for
  each web search. E.g.
• ALGO 1 The order in which the keyword terms
  appear.
• ALGO 5 Link popularity based.
• ALGO 9 Size of the document.
• And more

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Click on my Link

• You will have
• a more detailed overview of how Search Engines
  work.
• a more detailed analysis of Search Engine
  Optimisation (SEO).
• an idea of how improve Web Searches.