Previous studies have shown that most users view only the first results page. For most queries there are thousands of results, which only underscores the importance of ranking. The quality of a link is based on the PageRank of the source of the link (for a detailed explanation, see Levene, 2006).

The PageRank of a page is determined by the quantity and quality of links pointing to it. One of the ingredients in Google’s ranking algorithm is PageRank ( Brin & Page, 1998 Google, 2007). Links are important for the ranking process as well. Submission does not guarantee inclusion thus it is important to have links to the site in order to be discovered. Crawlers are programs that cover the Web, starting from “seed” (a set of initial URLs) and then following links found on those pages (see, e.g., Levene, 2006). In order to be included in Google’s index, users can submit their sites ( ), or they can wait for the Google crawler to discover their new page/site. “Without much exaggeration one could say that to exist is to be indexed by a search engine” ( Introna & Nissenbaum, 2000, p. Search engines are the primary tools for finding information on the Web they are extremely powerful, since they decide what to index and how to rank the indexed results for the specific queries. One of the major activities in this new field concerns Organic Search Engine Optimization, which, according to the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization’s report, is “he practice of using a range of techniques, including augmenting HTML code, web page copy editing, site navigation, linking campaigns and more, in order to improve how well a site or page gets listed in search engines for particular search topics” ( SEMPO, 2004, p. Businesses, organizations, and individuals invest time and money so that their Web pages are placed high for certain queries an entire new industry focusing on search engine optimization is based on this idea ( SEMPO, 2004). However, in reality they have considerable influence on the Web. Search engines are supposed to be unobtrusive tools for information retrieval. According to a report by comScore (2007), in July 2006, Google’s market share of searches was 47.3%, and Google, Yahoo, and Windows Live (MSN) together accounted for 86.3% of the searches on the Web in the United States.

These tools are primarily the major commercial search engines: Google, Yahoo!, and Windows Live. Due to the vast amounts of information available, special tools are needed in order to locate information on the Web. According to recent estimates, the size of the Web stands at 11.5 billion indexable documents ( Gulli & Signorini, 2005). The Web has become a major source of information in the developed world, answering many of people’s information needs in their everyday, personal, and professional lives.

Phone bomber online