Search Engines Explained

1. How they work

Search engines gather their data by constantly scanning the web. The technology behind this process is often referred to as web bots, crawlers or spiders and they work by electronically following all the links found on a page and then all the links on these pages.

The term meta-tags is used to describe the 'Keywords' which search engine technology use to find what sort of information or products are available on the page. The Internet Fine Art Bureau Ltd. build these meta-tags into all our websites in order to assist the search engine technology. You will not see these on the page as they are hidden in the code of the website.

On our Antique Care products, Books and Advice website - www.AntiquesCare.com - words and phrases such as "books, antique care products, dusters, silver polish, jacpol polish ..." are used to ensure people looking for these sorts of products find the website. There is no limit to the number of key phrases contained on websites though we recommend no more than 100.

2. Types of search engine

The current main search engines are www.google.com, www.altavista.com, www.lycos.com. Directory enquiry services offer slightly different ways of trawling the web, for example www.ask.com, www.yell.com or www.yahoo.com. These sites are useful because humans are employed to classify sites. However, because they are not fully automated they are often not as up-to-date or complete as the more general search engines. There are also websites which exist to search through other search engines. These are called meta-search engines (for example www.dogpile.com). They take your search query and pool results from many sources but often return an overwhelming number of results.

3. Search methods

Due to the ever increasing size of the Internet, non-specific searches tend to return numerous pages many of which are highly irrelevant. A search of "Fine Art" conducted in June 2003 returned 4,260,000 pages on www.google.com! However, if one searches for a particular company name or product, for example "The Internet Fine Art Bureau" only our home page will be returned as the search is highly specific. The problem for owners of websites is that it is often the more general searches which many people are inclined to use if they do not have a specific artist, antique or service in mind.

A way of increasing the chances of getting relevant results is to make use of Boolean operators such as AND, OR, and NOT. These are words which most search engines recognise.

If you type 'Antiques Fine Art' into a search engine it reads this as 'Antiques AND Fine Art'. This means it is assuming that you wish to find pages on the web which contain both the word 'Antiques' and 'Fine Art'.

If you would rather search generally for either word you can enter "Antiques OR Fine Art" which will return pages with only 'Antiques', only 'Fine Art' or both.

You can also exclude pages by typing 'Antiques Fine Art -Paintings'. The - symbol instructs the search engine to exclude pages with the word 'Paintings'.

Also, if you wish to search for a specific phrase as opposed to all the words in a search then contain them within speech marks, e.g. "Fine Art and Antiques" - only pages with this exact phrase will be returned.

For more specific search options most search engines offer the option of an Advanced Search where you can enter details such as language, date or location.

4. How to increase the number of visitors to your website

Interfine.com exists to increase the links and exposure of all the sites listed within it though there is some responsibility with the owner of any website to promote it at any opportunity, whether on or off line. Generating links with related sites will increase the chances of being picked up by the search engines.

Included with all Associate Websites is The Internet Fine Art Bureau's own promotion both traditional and Internet based. While we extensively promote our own site at any available opportunity we also submit every individual site to all popular search engines. Every new website is automatically submitted to 300 search engines and regularly assessed for search engine status. Unfortunately, due to the vast nature of the Internet, no guarantees are made though we hope to drive traffic to your site by click-through and appropriate use of meta-tags.

We also offer an advisory service with regard to sponsored on-line promotion. A brief explanation of the way www.google.com (the largest and most popular search engine on the web) currently structures its sponsorship services is found below. For a more detailed explanation or information on other search engine sponsorship, please do not hesitate to contact us.

5. Sponsored Advertising - google.com

Google AdWords™ enable you to manage your own account, and with cost-per-click (CPC) pricing, you pay only when users click on your advert. You control your costs by setting a daily budget for what you are willing to spend each day - click here to view full details.

Below is an example of the type of banner which appear on the right of the page when somebody types in the keyword phrase or word of your choice. You pay when someone clicks on the advert. In order to prevent people simply re-clicking on your advert, a block is set automatically.