A search engine is a program that helps people to find the information they are looking for through keywords and phrases. The words and phrases they use are known as Serch queries. The search engine compares that query to its catalog of web pages, pulling out the best matches to show the searcher. These are displayed on a search results page. The main goal of a search engine is to make the most relevant list of results are links to websites, videos, Images, products and many more.

So, how a search engine is important for business? Through the search engine, one can make sure that their business is on the search engine results when certain keywords or phrases are searched. The best example, assume you are a florist and you are on the search engine so every time someone searches for a florist shop near your location, your business will be there on the result page; that's how a search engine works.

How does a search engine work? Every search engine uses there own program but the steps taken are the same, the search engine surf through thousands of possibility and shows the best result one is searching for through the steps of crawling, indexing and ranking. Let's dig deep into the steps.

• Crawling, search engines surf the Internet to discover results, like web pages, images, advertisements, and videos. Each search engine uses computer programs called “bots” also known as robots, “crawlers” or “spiders” to find the best result among the pages.

• Indexing means categorizing each piece of content with the help of bots. The bots hop from page to page in search of results, the sole purpose of these is to visit and revisit the pages that are on the web to find new links and results to include in the process of indexing. The index is a list of all the web pages and content found by the bots. The search engine uses this as the source of information displayed on the search results pages, but everything found by the bots does not make it to the search page, the results are further skimmed through by analyzing how its different from thousands of the same results and if its the perfect match for the result.

• Ranking means which content is most useful to searchers. The process ranking is done is a secret no one knows but yes one thing that can be determined is it is done by looking for the top result through pictures, links, phrases, words, the number of sites connected and many more; and the ultimate goal is to provide the best result searcher is looking for.

How to optimize your page?

To best optimize your page you have to use specific keywords in your website to be enlisted in the index, and the best way to do so is knowing "How the search engine sees the web?" Let's assume you are a florist in Mumbai and you have a pretty good setup online but what you see on your page is different from what a search engine sees on your page, it not only sees the webpage but also the code running behind it known as HTML. Specific parts of this code help the search engine understand what the web page is all about. And knowing which parts are important can help you to optimize your site.

• First, the title of the page in the code. Let's understand with an example that if your shop is named "The colorful florist" then in the HTML tag, it will be written as <title>Thecolorfulflorist</title>. No, we are not learning to code here however this is not the full code but the main focus was to understand that if its a florist the word florist should be there in the title so that the search engine can list your business in the index whenever the searcher searches for a florist in your locality.

• Second, the fancy images you've put on your website search engines don't see that but see the code behind it, if it's an image of a bouquet give it a descriptive name, image.jpg is not a great file name for search engines, something that describes exactly what’s in the picture, like red-rose-bouquet.jpg, is.

• One step further you can add "alternative text" in the image with your code also known as an "Alt tag" it describes the image, which is useful for people using web browsers that don’t display images, or for people with visual impairments who use software to listen to the content of web pages.

Two results are ranked:

1. Organic Results typically appear in the center of the page and are the results the search engine decides are the best match for the search query, or words, that were typed in. These pages are considered the most relevant web pages the search engine can find for this search.

2. Paid Results A search engine’s most important job is to show people the results they are looking for, and this extends to the ads. The ads you see complement the search results page, with the ultimate goal of helping a searcher find what they’re looking for. So how does the search engine decides which ad to show on the result page, the primary components are the bid.

   • The bid is the maximum amount an advertiser is willing to pay for a click on an ad. If someone clicks the ad, the advertiser is charged an amount equal to—or sometimes less than—the bid.

But what happens if two bids are the same?

• Ad relevance: The first ad that is displayed may be the one that is more pertinent to the search query. Ad relevance is defined by the keyword density of the ad, the relevance of the ad content, and the relevance of the landing page.

• Ad quality rating: The advertisement with the higher rating may appear first. The search engine assigns an overall quality score based on the relevancy of the advertisement, the anticipated click-through rate, and the user experience on the landing page.

• Ad rank: An advertisement with a higher ad rank could be seen first. By dividing the bid price by the quality score, the ad rank is determined.

• Ad rotation: For both adverts to have an equal chance of displaying first, the search engine may rotate them equally.

• In some cases, the search engine may display both ads, one above the other or side by side, or alternate the display of the two ads, so each ad appears in the top position an equal number of times.

In conclusion, search engines play a crucial role in our daily lives as they help us find the information we need quickly and efficiently. For businesses, having a strong presence on search engines can be a game-changer as it can lead to increased visibility, traffic, and ultimately, sales. Understanding how search engines work and optimizing your website accordingly can greatly improve your chances of appearing in search results. By keeping up with the ever-evolving algorithms and staying up-to-date with the latest optimization techniques, businesses can stay ahead of the competition and reach their target audience effectively.