What is a search engine?
Q: What is a search engine?
A: A search engine is a website that allows users to look up information on the World Wide Web (WWW), part of the Internet. It will return results ranked by relevancy and popularity by the search engine.
Q: How do you use a search engine?
A: To use a search engine you must enter at least one keyword in to the search box. Usually an on-screen button must be clicked on to submit the search. The search engine looks for matches between the keyword(s) entered and its database of websites and words. After submitting, a list of results will appear known as Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
Q: What are some popular examples of search engines?
A: Some popular examples of search engines are Google Search, Yahoo! Search, Ask.com, Forestle and Bing. Older services include Webcrawler, Lycos, and Alta Vista.
Q: How does a search engine work?
A: When a user types words into the search engine, it looks for web pages with those words from its database of websites and words. There could be thousands or even millions of web pages with those words so the search engine helps users by putting the most relevant or highest quality webpages first in order determined by its ranking system.
Q: What can I do to improve my searches?
A: Using more keywords or different keywords improves your chances of finding what you're looking for quickly and easily from your searches.
Q: Are there any other features besides searching available on these sites?
A: Yes, some services may also include portals with news, games, and more information besides just searching capabilities such as Yahoo! which has a popular portal while Google has simple design on its front page.
Q: Is there any cost associated with using these services? A: No, usually these services work without charging money for finding sites and are often supported through text or banner advertisements instead
