How Bing and Google Work

Both Google and Bing are search engines that allow users to search the internet for a wide variety of information, including web pages, images, and videos. When a user submits a search query, the search engine scans its index of web pages and returns a list of results that are relevant to the user’s query.

To create its index of web pages, search engines use a combination of automated programs called web crawlers and human reviewers. The web crawlers visit and analyze web pages on the internet and follow links to other pages to discover new content. The human reviewers then review some of the content of the pages to ensure that it is relevant and of high quality. Humans do not review all pages, but the work they do “trains” the system to recognize high-quality content. Google uses “quality raters” to do so. 

When a user submits a search query to a search engine, it uses algorithms to analyze the query and determine the most relevant results. The algorithms take into account a variety of factors, including the content of the web pages, the relevance of the words on the pages to the search query, and the number and quality of links pointing to the pages.

Both Bing and Google also offer a variety of other features and services, such as maps, news, and shopping results, to help users find the information they are looking for.

Over the years, Google and Bing have become increasingly sophisticated, and what was originally outlined as a relatively straightforward ranking algorithm has evolved into a complex system incorporating social media, image identification, artificial intelligence, and a whole host of individual factors that we’ll never know.

how search engines work

There are some mainstays to the search engine process for reputation purposes, however. Most people use search engines, reputation management consultants change what they show. This is how:

First step: Identify relevance

The first thing search engines do is look at a body of content, examine a particular search phrase within that content, and “score” the phrase, assigning a value of relevance that determines a page’s importance, authority, and reliability. In turn, this helps decide whether a certain site will show up for a given search phrase. For Google, this complicated inner working is broken down into a 0-10 scale called PageRank.

A site’s given PageRank depends on a few factors:

  • How long the web page has existed
  • The locations and frequency of a given search phrase within the piece of content
  • The number of other, reputable sites that are linking to the specific page the content is on
  • Many other things… like, hundreds of things (and they are always changing)

A link to a site from another page counts as a “vote” toward raising the site’s ranking. The more links to your site, the better its ranking will be. The more reputable the sites linking to yours are, the faster your score will rise.

Second step: Identify ranking

Once the relevance for a given search phrase has been determined, search engines assign rank. Rank is assigned based on priority and relevance, and relevance is based on the number of incoming links, so here too the links the come into your page—the number of them and their sources—matter greatly.

Beyond links

Links aren’t the only factors at play. Other elements, like the inclusion of certain search terms on the page, especially in the title tag, matter as well. A page with lots of incoming links from other relevant pages may not rank in search results well if it doesn’t have on-page relevance itself. Links alone are not the answer, but they are part of it.

A new twist: Artificial intelligence

Not all websites have links coming to the page, but they may still have good, relevant content. To solve this problem, Google created many different algorithmic tweaks including better known ones like RankBrain and others which looks at pages much like a human would and then judges their merit. This solves the problem, helping ensure that just because a page has no links to it doesn’t mean it has to languish in search result purgatory forever. RankBrain helps ensure these types of pages see the light.

What is the difference between Google and Bing?

For most of us, when we think “search engine” we think of Google, but Bing offers some unique differences in their ranking algorithms. SEO is still important, but Bing puts less priority on backlinking and more on pages that have been around for longer periods of time.

In some studies, Bing’s results were superior to Google’s

Bing doesn’t crawl through pages the way Google does. Instead, it focuses on ranking a fraction of the content and letting links do the rest. Where it outshines Google is its grasp of multimedia content. Bing’s algorithm is able to read and understand non-text content like Flash, videos, and images, factoring the meaning of the media content into the overall meaning of the page.

Finding the balance

Google and Bing offer differences in their algorithms, and a good reputation builder should know how to achieve the benefits of both. Focus on producing quality content, keeping keywords relevant, and building strong linking relationships with reputable websites and you should be successful on both engines.

How Google works FAQs

How does Google determine a site’s Page Rank?

Google determines a site’s Page Rank based on a few factors such as how long the web page has existed, the locations and frequency of a given search phrase within the piece of content, the number of other, reputable sites that are linking to the specific page the content is on, and more.

Why doesn’t my page rank well in search results?

A page will not rank well in search results if it doesn’t have on-page relevance. In order to rank well, a page must include relevant search terms, especially in the title tag, incoming links, and other SEO tactics.

What is the difference between Google and Bing?

Bing offers some unique differences in their ranking algorithms. SEO is still important, but Bing puts less priority on backlinking and more on pages that have been around for longer periods of time.

Tags: Online Reputation Management Services, Reputation Management, Reputation Marketing.

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