Introduction to search engines

As the Internet started to grow and became an integral part of day-to-day work, it became almost impossible for a user to fetch the exact or relevant information from such a huge web. This is the main reason why ‘Search Engines’ were developed. Search en gines became so popular that now more than 80% of web-site visitors come from them. What exactly is a Search Engine? According to webopedia, a “Search Engine” is a program that searches documents for specified keywords and returns a list of the documents where the keywords were found”.

For Example, if you want to know about the Automobile market in Canada, you will type keywords like automotive market, automobiles in Canada, automobile manufacturers in Canada etc… Once you click on the search button, you’ll get the best relevant data related to those keywords.

On the eve of Google’s initial public offering, new surveys and traffic data confirm that search engines have become an essential and popular way for people to find information online. A nationwide phone survey of 1,399 Internet users between May 14 and June 17 by the Pew Internet & American Life Project shows:

  • 84% of internet users have used search engines. On any given day online, more than half of those using the Internet use search engines. More than two-thirds of Internet users say they use search engines at least a couple of times per week.
  • The use of search engines usually ranks only second to email use as the most popular activity online. During periods when major news stories are breaking, the act of getting news online usually surpasses the use of search engines.
  • There is a substantial payoff as search engines improve and people become more adept at using them. Some 87% of search engine users say they find the information they want most of the time when th ey use search engines.
  • The convenience and effectiveness of the search experience solidifies its appeal. Some 44% say that most times they search they are looking for vital information they absolutely need. COM Score Networks tracking of Internet use shows that among the top 25 search engines:
    • Americans conducted 6.7 billion total searches in December.
    • 44% of those searches were done from home computers, 49% were done from work computers, and 7% were done at university-based computers.
    • The average Internet user performed 33 searches in June.
    • The average visit to a search engine resulted in 4.4 searches.he average visitor scrolled through 1.8 result pages during a typical search.
    • In June, the average user spent 41 minutes at search engine sites.
    • COM Score estimates that 40-45 percent of searches include 1sponsored results.
    • Approximately 7 percent of searches in March included a local modifier, such as city and state names, phone numbers or the words “map” or “directions.”
    • The percentage of searches that occurred through browser toolbars in June was 7%

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