We’ve already established that a lot of people use search engines. But what
are people looking for when they use them? Are they doing research for
restoring their classic car? Do people use them to look for a place that sells
parts for classic cars? Or are they just looking to kill time with video that
shows custom cars racing? The answer is yes to all of the above. A search
engine is there to scour the billions on billions of Web sites out there in
order to get you where you need to go, whether it’s doing research, going
shopping, or just plain wasting time.
are people looking for when they use them? Are they doing research for
restoring their classic car? Do people use them to look for a place that sells
parts for classic cars? Or are they just looking to kill time with video that
shows custom cars racing? The answer is yes to all of the above. A search
engine is there to scour the billions on billions of Web sites out there in
order to get you where you need to go, whether it’s doing research, going
shopping, or just plain wasting time.
Research
Most people who are using a search engine are doing it for research purposes.
They are generally looking for answers or at least to data with which
to make a decision. They’re looking to find a site to fulfill a specific purpose.
Someone doing a term paper on classic cars for their Automotive History
101 class would use it to find statistics on the number of cars sold in the
United States, instructions for restoring and customizing old cars, and possibly
communities of classic car fanatics out there. Companies would use it in
order to find where their clients are, and who their competition is.
Most people who are using a search engine are doing it for research purposes.
They are generally looking for answers or at least to data with which
to make a decision. They’re looking to find a site to fulfill a specific purpose.
Someone doing a term paper on classic cars for their Automotive History
101 class would use it to find statistics on the number of cars sold in the
United States, instructions for restoring and customizing old cars, and possibly
communities of classic car fanatics out there. Companies would use it in
order to find where their clients are, and who their competition is.
Search engines are naturally drawn to research-oriented sites and usually
consider them more relevant than shopping-oriented sites, which is why, a
lot of the time, the highest listing for the average query is a Wikipedia page.
Wikipedia is an open-source online reference site that has a lot of searchable
information, tightly cross-linked with millions of back links. Open source
means that anyone can have access to the text and edit it. Wikipedia is
practically guaranteed to have a high listing on the strength of its site architecture
alone. (We go over site architecture in much more depth later on in
Book IV.) Wikipedia is an open-source project, thus information should be
taken with a grain of salt as there is no guarantee of accuracy. This brings
us to an important lesson of search engines — they base “authority” on
perceived expertise. Accuracy of information is not one of their criteria:
Notability is.
consider them more relevant than shopping-oriented sites, which is why, a
lot of the time, the highest listing for the average query is a Wikipedia page.
Wikipedia is an open-source online reference site that has a lot of searchable
information, tightly cross-linked with millions of back links. Open source
means that anyone can have access to the text and edit it. Wikipedia is
practically guaranteed to have a high listing on the strength of its site architecture
alone. (We go over site architecture in much more depth later on in
Book IV.) Wikipedia is an open-source project, thus information should be
taken with a grain of salt as there is no guarantee of accuracy. This brings
us to an important lesson of search engines — they base “authority” on
perceived expertise. Accuracy of information is not one of their criteria:
Notability is.
In order to take advantage of research queries, you need to gear your site
content toward things that would be of interest to a researcher. “How to”
articles, product comparisons, reviews, and free information are all things
that attract researchers to your site.
content toward things that would be of interest to a researcher. “How to”
articles, product comparisons, reviews, and free information are all things
that attract researchers to your site.
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