As we’ve written so often in the past, search engines are word value-based systems. They do not “see” images or colors, graphics or photos. They scan the words they find, run those words through their algorithms, determine how a site should be indexed (stored in their data bases), and for which searches it should be presented as a “relevant” result.

Their little “robots” scour the Internet from site to site, examining what they find, and reporting back to the “mother ship” those findings. They recognize the words they scan, but without any understanding of their meaning.  After all, those “robots” are merely pieces of software, and not sentient beings.

Let me offer a simple and simplified illustration of one thing this means.  We’ve all seen it, and you’ll know exactly what I mean.  You are at Google or Yahoo or another of your favorite search engines running a search.  The results page pops up in response, and you notice some of the sites given, both in the organic list and in the sponsored results list, don’t really seem appropriate to your search.  The sites listed don’t have much to do with exactly what you are looking for, and you wonder why they’re listed.

There are two reasons for this.  First, the site has likely played a little with its keywords, taken some liberties with content or copy that has little, if anything, to do with their products or services.  The site has nonetheless been indexed for those keywords and “fooled” the robots into thinking that is what the site is about.

The second reason is that robots, so far, only recognize the words, and not their meaning. That may change someday.

Search engine algorithms have evolved mightily over the years, and the way search engines work will always be dynamic.  The most important concept for them is relevancy – - delivering search results matched exactly to the search.  This is how they help their brand loyalty build, believing that searchers who are given the most relevant results for their search will return to that engine for all future searches.

Imagine, then, a search engine algorithm that understands the meaning of a phrase, rather than simply recognizing the word(s).  How much more relevant, then, would search results be?  I’d say pretty darn relevant, and searchers would be given “just the facts, Ma’am” every time.

This is one of the directions Google and Yahoo and the rest will be moving toward, if they are not already doing so.  In the meantime, though, you can probably expect them to assign greater value to “brand” in order to combat those web sites who play games with their content in attempts to “fool” the robots.  The better known the brand, the more likely it will be presented as a high ranked search result.

Search engines are fighting for their own brand loyalty, if you will, in their efforts to grab a large share of the billions spend on sponsored results.  Recognizing a “brand” name is one way to fight for market share, because it has the best chance of presenting relevant results.

It also means the little guys will have a harder time achieving high rank positions.  Longer keyword phrases, or “longtail” keywords, will still have high value.  Searchers have learned that if they drill down their searches with longtail phrases, they are likely to be given more relevant results to their search.

Simplified, but a good example:  “hotels” gives you hundreds of millions of results; “hotels Boston” gives you tens of millions of results; “hotels Boston near public gardens” will give you far fewer, and if that is where you need to stay on your trip to Boston, you’re going to get the most relevant results for your search.

Yes, search engine algorithms undergo regular changes and updates.  Some day, the robots are going to recognize the meaning of the words they find, and not just the words.  For the time being, though, us “regular” folk should simply continue to drill down our searches for the best and most relevant results.