How do search engines rank web pages?

Search engines use mathematical formulas to determine the rank of a web page. These mathematical
formulas are called ranking algorithms. Although search engines don't reveal the exact algorithms,
The exact ranking algorithms differ
from search engine to search engine but the principle is the same. We'll use the ranking algorithm of
Google as an example.
How does Google rank your web pages?
Google explains the ranking algorithm on their company pages:
"Traditional search engines rely heavily on how often a word appears on a web page. Google uses
PageRank™ to examine the entire link structure of the web and determine which pages are most
important.

It then conducts hypertext-matching analysis to determine which pages are relevant to the specific
search being conducted. By combining overall importance and query-specific relevance, Google is
able to put the most relevant and reliable results first."

PageRank and hypertext-matching analysis?
Google uses PageRank (which is a mathematical formula and not the green bar in the Google toolbar)
and hypertext-matching analysis to rank your web pages. To get good results for the PageRank factor,
you need good links from related pages that point to your site. It's a simple principle: if page a links to
page b then it is a recommendation from page a to page b. The more links point to your web site, the
better your rankings.

The quality of the links is also important. A link that contains the keyword for which you want to have
high rankings in the link text is better than five links with the text Click here. A link from a web site that
has a related topic is much better than links from unrelated sites or link lists.

While the linking concept is easy to understand, the hypertext-matching analysis factor is a bit more
complicated. Google explains hypertext-matching analysis as follows:
"Hypertext-Matching Analysis: Google's search engine also analyzes page content. However,
instead of simply scanning for page-based text (which can be manipulated by site publishers
through meta-tags), Google's technology analyzes the full content of a page and factors in fonts,
subdivisions and the precise location of each word.
Google also analyzes the content of neighboring web pages to ensure the results returned are the
most relevant to a user's query."

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