When the internet was invented, the initial number of websites was very small and also the number of users was limited. It was therefore easy for users to navigate the internet and find what they were looking for. With the inevitable expansion of the internet, there were more users and more websites and search engines were invented to help users locate their desired content more easily.
After a phrase was typed into a search engine, a process in which it was matched to websites which included the required search phrase was initiated and all such websites subsequently identified. This is the same approach which Google uses, although Google went a step further when it introduced the process of using links between sites to determine the authority and trustworthiness of sites.
Nowadays, Google takes hundreds of factors into consideration both off the website and on the websites in order to determine the relevancy of a search result. Such factors are obtained by examining the company’s digital footprint and different weights are attached to the factors. These weighted factors are used to come up with a score which is used in compiling the search results. The digital footprint is an important factor in determining whether you appear as a top result for an enquiry typed by a user on Google.