As a searcher or search engine optimization professional, do you really need to understand the algorithms and technologies that support search engines? At a recent search engine strategy meeting, the answer from the search engine algorithms and research panel experts is yes: absolutely necessary.
This is a special report from the Search Engine Strategy conference, which was held in New York, United States, in February 2005 2 August-March 3rd.
Members of this search engine algorithms and research panel include: Ask Jeeves's vice president of product management and search technology Rahul Lahiri,smart Interactive (recently websourced acquired) Ceo,mike Grehan as well as from MI Dr. Edel Garcia, Islita.com.
What is the context of the problem?
"Do we really need to know everything on the technical level of the search engine?" "Grehan asked. Yes He answered unequivocally and went on to explain when you understood the competitive advantage of search engine algorithms.
"If you know what causes a document to rank higher than the other, you can strategically optimize and better serve your customers." And if your client asks, ' Why is my competitor always in the top 20, and I don't? What is the working principle of the search engine? ' If you say ' I don't know--they just do--how long do you think they can keep their accounts? ”
Grehan his point by quoting Brian Pinkerton--, who first developed a full-text search engine in 1994. "Take a picture of it," he explained. "A customer enters a large travel goods store, which has everything in it and can be used for travel around the world," he said, looking at the young man, who, in his own words, asked ' travel '. Where do you think the salesperson should start? ”
Search engine users want to achieve their goals through minimal perception and maximum happiness. They do not think carefully when they enter queries, they use inaccurate 3 words to search, and do not learn the correct query composition. This makes it more difficult for search engines to work.
Search methods, adequacy problems and the evolution of algorithms
Grehan continues to talk about the important role of search methods in file rankings. "The combination of a variety of fascinating things creates rankings. We should get as much information as we can, so when we talk about why the ranking of an article is higher than another, we should at least be able to show some evidence of what is happening. ”
Grehan illustrates the process of search engine algorithms over time. In the early search engine, text was extremely important. But search researcher Jon Kleinberg found what he called an "abundance problem". There are plenty of problems when you enter a search and then return thousands of pages that contain the appropriate text. How do you know which is the most important or the most appropriate page? How does a search engine determine which page should appear at the top of the search results list? Search engine algorithms must constantly evolve to complexity in order to adapt to problems that are too abundant.
(To be continued)
