How Do Search Engines Work?

Dozens of search engines are available on the Web. Each search engine gathers information a little differently. Some engines scan the entire web page; others focus on the page title; some analyze the references from one web page to another; still others read keywords and information included in meta tags (tags that include keywords about the page) on the web page. These different methods are the reason you can get different results from different search engines.

Popular search engines include Google (www.google.com), MSN Search (search.msn.com), AltaVista (www.aItavista.com), and Yahoo (www.yahoo.com).
Most search engines go beyond just searching for web pages. Some search engines allow you to search for information from Usenet newsgroups.