Hire a tutor

How does an internet search engine index web pages?

An internet search engine indexes web pages by using web crawlers to find, scan, and store information about web pages.

Web crawlers, also known as spiders or bots, are automated software applications that systematically browse the internet to collect information about each web page. This process is called web crawling or spidering. The crawler starts with a list of URLs to visit, known as the seed. As the crawler visits these URLs, it identifies all the hyperlinks in the page and adds them to the list of URLs to visit.

The crawler then scans the content of each web page, including text, images, and videos. It analyses the content to understand what the page is about. This includes looking at key elements such as the title, meta tags, and descriptions. The crawler also looks at the keywords used in the page and how often they appear. This process is known as parsing.

Once the crawler has analysed the page, it stores the information in the search engine's index. This is a huge database of all the information the crawler has found. The index is organised in a way that allows the search engine to quickly find the most relevant web pages for a particular search query. This process is known as indexing.

The crawler also notes when the content on a web page changes. If a page is updated, the crawler will revisit it and update the information in the index. This ensures that the search engine's results are always up to date.

In addition to indexing the content of web pages, search engines also rank them based on their relevance and quality. This is done using complex algorithms that take into account factors such as the number and quality of other web pages that link to the page, the relevance of the page's content to the search query, and the user's browsing history. This process is known as ranking.

In summary, an internet search engine uses web crawlers to find and scan web pages, analyses the content to understand what the page is about, stores the information in an index, and ranks the pages based on their relevance and quality.

Study and Practice for Free

Trusted by 100,000+ Students Worldwide

Achieve Top Grades in your Exams with our Free Resources.

Practice Questions, Study Notes, and Past Exam Papers for all Subjects!

Need help from an expert?

4.93/5 based on486 reviews

The world’s top online tutoring provider trusted by students, parents, and schools globally.

Related Computer Science a-level Answers

    Read All Answers
    Loading...