Understanding Search Engines

This book presents a systematic study of practices and theories for query understanding of search engines. These studies can be categorized into three major classes. The first class is to figure out what the searcher wants by extracting semantic meaning from the searcher’s keywords, such as query classification, query tagging, and query intent understanding. The second class is to analyze search queries and then translate them into an enhanced query that can produce better search results, such as query spelling correction or query rewriting. The third class is to assist users in refining or suggesting queries in order to reduce users’ search effort and satisfy their information needs, such as query auto-completion and query suggestion. Query understanding is a fundamental part of search engines. It is responsible to precisely infer the intent of the query formulated by the search user, to correct spelling errors in his/her query, to reformulate the query to capture its intent more accurately, and to guide the user in formulating a query with precise intent. The book will be invaluable to researchers and graduate students in computer or information science and specializing in information retrieval or web-based systems, as well as to researchers and programmers working on the development or improvement of products related to search engines.

This book provides a broad introduction to search engines by integrating five different perspectives on Web search and search engines that are usually dealt with separately: the technical perspective, the user perspective, the internet-based research perspective, the economic perspective, and the societal perspective. After a general introduction to the topic, two foundational chapters present how search tools can cover the Web’s content and how search engines achieve this by crawling and processing the found documents. The next chapter on user behavior covers how people phrase their search queries and interact with search engines. This knowledge builds the foundation for describing how results are ranked and presented. The following three chapters then deal with the economic side of search engines, i.e., Google and the search engine market, search engine optimization (SEO), and the intermingling of organic and sponsored search results. Next, the chapter on search skills presents techniques for improving searches through advanced search interfaces and commands. Following that, the Deep Web and how its content can be accessed is explained. The two subsequent chapters cover ways to improve the quality of search results, while the next chapter describes how to access the Deep Web. Last but not least, the following chapter deals with the societal role of search engines before the final chapter concludes the book with an outlook on the future of Web search. With this book, students and professionals in disciplines like computer science, online marketing, or library and information science will learn how search engines work, what their main shortcomings are at present, and what prospects there are for their further development. The different views presented will help them to understand not only the basic technologies but also the implications the current implementations have concerning economic exploitation and societal impact.

This text covers design issues for building search engines, emphasizing the role that applied mathematics plays in improving information retrieval.

SEO--short for Search Engine Optimization--is the art, craft, and science of driving web traffic to web sites. Web traffic is food, drink, and oxygen--in short, life itself--to any web-based business. Whether your web site depends on broad, general traffic, or high-quality, targeted traffic, this PDF has the tools and information you need to draw more traffic to your site. You'll learn how to effectively use PageRank (and Google itself); how to get listed, get links, and get syndicated; and much more. The field of SEO is expanding into all the possible ways of promoting web traffic. This breadth requires a range of understanding. In this PDF you'll find topics that cover that range, so you can use SEO to your benefit. Those topics include: Understanding how to best organize your web pages and websites. Understanding technologic and business tools available that you can use to achieve your SEO goals. Understanding how Google works. (Since Google is far and away the most important search engine, effectively using SEO means effectively using Google. This PDF covers how to boost placement in Google search results, how not to offend Google, how best to use paid Google programs, and more.) Understanding best SEO practices (whether your organization is small and entrepreneurial, or whether you have responsibility for a large web presence). When you approach SEO, you must take some time to understand the characteristics of the traffic that you need to drive your business. Then go out and use the techniques explained in this PDF to grab some traffic--and bring life to your business.

This book provides a broad introduction to search engines by integrating five different perspectives on Web search and search engines that are usually dealt with separately: the technical perspective, the user perspective, the internet-based research perspective, the economic perspective, and the societal perspective. After a general introduction to the topic, two foundational chapters present how search tools can cover the Web's content and how search engines achieve this by crawling and processing the found documents. The next chapter on user behavior covers how people phrase their search queries and interact with search engines. This knowledge builds the foundation for describing how results are ranked and presented. The following three chapters then deal with the economic side of search engines, i.e., Google and the search engine market, search engine optimization (SEO), and the intermingling of organic and sponsored search results. Next, the chapter on search skills presents techniques for improving searches through advanced search interfaces and commands. Following that, the Deep Web and how its content can be accessed is explained. The two subsequent chapters cover ways to improve the quality of search results, while the next chapter describes how to access the Deep Web. Last but not least, the following chapter deals with the societal role of search engines before the final chapter concludes the book with an outlook on the future of Web search. With this book, students and professionals in disciplines like computer science, online marketing, or library and information science will learn how search engines work, what their main shortcomings are at present, and what prospects there are for their further development. The different views presented will help them to understand not only the basic technologies but also the implications the current implementations have concerning economic exploitation and societal impact.

Go beyond the standard checklists and “ultimate guides” to learn what really makes Google tick The Science of SEO is an intuitive and practical discussion of the computer science of search engine optimization. In the book, you’ll explore the relevant aspects of information retrieval, natural language processing, and generative AI you can use to accelerate and level-up your understanding of how search engines retrieve, parse, and—most importantly—rank information. As you build your technical SEO skillset and improve your working knowledge of how modern search engines—like Google, Bing ,and Yandex—operate, you’ll learn to go beyond simply copying the tactics and strategies found in widely read blogs and build mental models of how search actually works—and evolves—on the modern web. The book also offers: An easy-to-understand entry point for anyone trying to learn information retrieval on the web Techniques for building your own software (in Python and Node) that helps you analyze and navigate hidden opportunities presented by Google How to directly interface with engineering teams through SEO product management techniques and workflows An essential and insightful presentation of technical SEO concepts paired with step-by-step Python and Node implementations to build your own search engine, The Science of SEO is tailor-made for SEO and web professionals seeking easy-to-follow information to help them advance their “under-the-hood” knowledge of search engine optimization.

Provides an understanding of Web search engines from the unique perspective of Library and Information Science. This book explores a range of topics including retrieval effectiveness, user satisfaction, the evaluation of search interfaces, the impact of search on society, and the influence of search engine optimization (SEO) on results quality.

This book is a second edition, updated and expanded to explain the technologies that help us find information on the web. Search engines and web navigation tools have become ubiquitous in our day to day use of the web as an information source, a tool for commercial transactions and a social computing tool. Moreover, through the mobile web we have access to the web's services when we are on the move. This book demystifies the tools that we use when interacting with the web, and gives the reader a detailed overview of where we are and where we are going in terms of search engine and web navigation technologies.