Search engine optimisation (SEO)
Types of search engine
Different types of search engines use different methods to rank websites. Understanding these methods will help you understand the SEO strategies outlined in this guide.
Popular search engines
Some of the most widely used general search engines include:
Google uses automated systems to crawl, index and rank web pages. Google’s SEO guidance says SEO is about helping search engines understand your content and helping users decide whether to visit your site. Focus on useful, reliable, people-first content and make sure search engines can crawl and index your pages.
Bing
Microsoft's Bing uses signals such as page content, relevance, links and technical quality to help rank pages. Use Bing Webmaster Tools to review search performance, backlinks, keyword data, SEO reports and site scan issues.
Yahoo!
Yahoo! is now powered by Bing.
Google has the largest share of the UK search market, but Bing and other search services can still bring valuable traffic. Businesses should check their own analytics before deciding which search engines to prioritise.
If you target customers in another country, check which search engines and platforms people use there. Do not assume that the same search engine dominates every market.
These main search engines use 'crawlers' to search the internet. See what is a search engine and how do they work?
For more detailed information on how to best optimise your website for a particular search engine, refer to their webmaster pages. All the leading search engines provide information and tools to help you improve your SEO.
Specialist search engines
There are a number of specialist search engines that allow users to search for specific things like videos, used cars, recipes, flights and hotels. SEO tactics can be used to help your products and services rank well on specialist search engines. Listings on these websites often appear in standard web search results.
Examples of specialist search engines:
YouTube
YouTube is a major search platform for video content. Optimise video titles, descriptions, captions and thumbnails so users and search engines can understand the content.
Social media platforms can also work as search tools. Users may search for people, businesses, products, services, reviews and local information within social platforms.
Amazon
Amazon works as a search engine for products. It is often users' first place to research products on the market.
Skyscanner
Skyscanner allows users to search for flights and compare prices.
Social media platforms can also work as search tools. Users may search for people, businesses, products, services, reviews and local information within social platforms.
Many of these niche search engines are directories. This means they rank content that has been manually added. Some may use crawlers to find specific types of content from the internet. See what is a search engine and how do they work?