Reading Search Results

When you are reading your search results from search engines on the Web, you may be tempted to simply look at the first page of results or just the first one listed.  The challenge here is that different search engines have different ranking criteria, and many people who create web sites deliberately try to "cheat" the search engines to have their pages listed on top. 

Like its competitors, Google mainly keeps secret on how results are ranked based on a search, but the company has revealed that one important criteria used is how often a page has been linked by other sites.  Think of the sites you find, then, as those that are popular because people want to link to them.   But sometimes popularity does not necessarily mean better quality or credibility.

So if using search engines, try to look beyond the first page.  Quickly skim at least the first five pages, making notes to yourself.  The listing below each result usually lets you know how your terms are being used, (they will appear in bold).  If the context is not clear, you should then take a brief look at the result and quickly skim to see if the page suits your needs.