1. Searching on Google


Despite the different tools illustrated in this course, we know that the temptation you will succumb to will be to open Google and type in keywords freely.

Don't deny it. We all do it. The Google interface is so clean and easy to use, that it makes us think that the answer to all our questions is just a click away. But behind its apparent simplicity, Google hides potentials and pitfalls.

Google, like all search engines in general, is based on a system of indexing Web pages through spiders (also called crawlers or webbots), i.e. software that move around the network just like a spider on a spider web. The spider evaluates pages and websites, according to an algorithm never revealed, if not minimally. Based on the indications of Google and the experience of SEO experts (Search Engine Optimization, that is the technique of optimizing web content in relation to the characteristics of search engines; to learn more, we refer you to the next module), we can say that the results that appear to us after launching a search are displayed according to a certain order, or page ranking, which takes into account several factors, including:

  • relevance, evaluated by the spider according to the presence of the keyword in certain sections of the web page (heading, body of the text, etc...) 
  • notoriety, based on the times the page is linked from other sources. According to Google, a page cited by multiple sources is more likely to be trusted. The reverse also applies: links and external references to other sites are considered an indication of quality content. 
  • reliability: a well-structured and constantly updated site and HTML page are considered by Google more reliable and so rewarded with a higher ranking.
Very well you will say, the Google algorithm is a marvel! But no. Or at least not always. The unwritten law according to which the most interesting results are indexed in the first three pages (roughly the first 30 results) is not always valid. Often authoritative sources give way to less reliable sites, but more Google friendly, managed by experts in the Google language, but not necessarily also in our research object. Furthermore, the vastness of indexed resources leads to a disproportionate number of results. We invite you to deepen the question of the evaluation of the consulted resources in the next module.