Through completing several activities focused on search engines and the internet, I’ve learned a lot about how the web functions behind the scenes and how I can apply these concepts in my current work and future projects.
The first activity I explored was Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Before this, I work with SEO a lot in my current job so I have a good understanding that its important for website visibility, but this activity helped me see how deep the process really goes. SEO involves optimizing content through relevant keywords, improving site structure, and even managing backlinks to ensure a higher ranking in search engine results. A key takeaway from the presentation was that search engines, like Google, often use “spiders” to crawl websites and analyze content. These spiders index keywords, meta tags, and other relevant data that help determine a site’s ranking. I now have a better understanding of how structured content and well-defined meta tags play an essential role in search engine rankings. Moving forward, I’ll apply these strategies when building websites to ensure better organic reach without relying on paid ads.
Next, I explored the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, a tool I had heard of but never fully appreciated. It’s an incredible resource that allows you to view past versions of websites, even if the original content is no longer available. According to the presentation, it’s essential to preserve content through proper archiving because websites can experience “link rot,” where pages or links become inactive over time. For someone who works with websites, this tool could be a lifesaver. Imagine you’ve redesigned a site and realize you need to recover an old piece of content or layout. The Wayback Machine has your back. I also learned how to contribute by adding URLs to the archive, which feels like a way of giving back to the internet ecosystem. This is a useful method for quality control or even for tracking a website's historical progression.
The final activity I completed was learning how to cite web pages properly. While this may seem basic, it’s actually something that can be tricky when you’re constantly pulling information from the web. The presentation emphasized the importance of properly attributing online sources, especially since improper citation could lead to plagiarism or copyright issues. I was introduced to different citation formats like APA, MLA, and Chicago, each requiring specific details like the author, URL, and date accessed. This knowledge will definitely come in handy in both academic and professional settings, ensuring that any reports or articles I write give credit where it’s due and maintain professionalism.
Overall, these activities, reinforced by insights from the presentation, have deepened my understanding of how search engines and the internet work. I now feel more equipped to optimize websites, preserve web content, and cite sources properly—skills that will undoubtedly enhance my work in web development and beyond.
Throughout the activities and the readings I did see some interesting information and tools that I thought would add some more depth to this assignment post. Below are two embedded items, the first are the Power Point slides from this module and the second is the embedded tool I was able to Copy/Paste from this website (Link) which I found after I used Google to search the phrase “search engine market share” as instructed in Activity 2 "Compare search engines".
Source: StatCounter Global Stats - Search Engine Market Share
| Search Engine | Percentage Market Share |
|---|---|
| 90.48% | |
| Bing | 3.93% |
| Yandex | 1.95% |
| Yahoo! | 1.32% |
| Baidu | 0.79% |
| DuckDuckGo | 0.64% |