Library 102 Week 3 Library 102 Week 3 Search Engine Evaluation Search engines are software programs that search the web and log words into a database. When a word is typed into a search box the program scans the search engines' database for the word and returns sites that are mathematically determined to be relevant.
Most search engines rank the sites by relevancy.
Remember this relevancy is determined by a software program not by humans who have actually looked at the particular site. Because the databases compiled by search engines can have words from millions of web sites, it is important to plan a search strategy when using search engines. Taking a few extra minutes to think about a search strategy will actually save time and provide better results. Although many of the search engines have indexed millions of web sites, there is no one search engine or directory which has indexed everything on the web or the Internet. Because search engine software differs, each search engine will give a different view of the Web.