Module 3 Summary
This portion of the textbook discusses search engines. Before reading the previous chapter, I would’ve said search engines and web browsers were synonymous. Search engines use HTML data, called meta tags, to store keywords, descriptions, and phrases in a large database. When you search a word or phrase, the search engine references its own database and uses an algorithm to deliver the most relevant result first, and the least last. These databases are supported by spiders or web robots which “travel” throughout the web, visiting web pages and updating the engines database.
One part of this chapter that struck me is how intuitive these search engines are. Features I have never or seldom thought of, such as page ranking and stemming, create a user experience that feels logical. The search engine does not return hits that are identical to the search, but extends the search parameters to similar words and contexts. Finally, it displays what the math suggests is the most pertinent result first. In my experience, it is very usually correct. Finally, my wife works it marketing, I remember her telling me about something she has to constantly pay attention to, which was search engine optimization. She didn’t write the code for her work sites, but she followed the other tips offered in the book closely. Its interesting to see these concepts come up in other fields.