Search engines are the lifeblood of any business dependent on the internet. And if you understand how search engines work, you will be able to take advantage of its power to market your product in inexpensive but effective ways, build web traffic, and ultimately reel in more customers.

What are the different types of search engines?

A search engine is actually a user-friendly program that indexes websites in a database to help users locate sites and pages relevant to what they are searching for. There are three different kinds of search engines: (a) crawler-based search engines, (b) human-powered directories, and (c) hybrid search engines. Each type works differently, and you therefore need to know what tactics to employ to make sure you rank high in any kind.

A crawler-based search engine (such as the ever popular Google) works without human intervention. It literally crawls or ‘spiders’ the internet based on keywords (especially titles) to generate its listings. The process is fully-automated, so if you make changes to your website, Google finds it robotically.

Getting high rankings in crawler-based search engines entails skills in “Search Engine Optimization’ or SEO, which should be easy if you happen to have a solid background in programming. If you don’t however, it may be best to seek professional help. There are companies who specialize in optimizing your website for crawler-based search engines. While their services can cost a good deal of money, your investment almost immediately pays off in the form of increased site traffic and sales.

Another type of search engine comes in form of human-powered directories. As its name implies, this type of search engine relies on humans to manually add to its listings. Depending on the search engine company, you can either (a) submit your site details yourself, or (b) talk to their editor to write an entry for you.

Note that if you modify your site, you need to manually submit the changes to the search engine. Things that are important to crawler-based search engines (such as metafiles and keyword-rich content) have little or no importance to a human-powered directory. If you want editors to notice your site and put it in the top ranks of the search engine, you just have to improve its quality and usability.

Finally, there are hybrid search engines that are very prevalent today. An example of such a search engine is MSN. How does this kind of search engine work? By combining crawler-based technology and human-powered listings, MSN uses LookSmart to lead users to sites of general queries, but also uses Inktomi for more ambiguous search engine queries.