How do search engines work from a query perspective?

Search engines work by maintaining large databases of information assembled by spiders. When you type in keywords or phrases in a search, you're entering parameters the engine compares to its database. The most relevant sites are near the top of a returned Search Engine Results Page, or SERP.

Some of the main parameters engines use to predict relevance are based on a site's textual content, the frequency of search terms within each page, and the amount of pages containing the search terms. This is why it's important to use as much relevant textual content as possible when building a site. The more textual content on a site, the more spiders have to work with when trying to categorize it.

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