Search Engines Work

It is the search engines that finally bring your website to the notice of the prospective customers. Hence it is better to know how these search engines actually work and how they present information to the customer initiating a search.

There are basically two types of search engines. The first is by robots called crawlers or spiders.

Search Engines use spiders to index websites. When you submit your website pages to a search engine by completing their required submission page, the search engine spider will index your entire site.

A ‘spider’ is an automated program that is run by the search engine system. Spider visits a web site, read the content on the actual site, the site's Meta tags and also follow the links that the site connects. The spider then returns all that information back to a central depository, where the data is indexed.....

It will visit each link you have on your website and index those sites as well. Some spiders will only index a certain number of pages on your site, so don’t create a site with 500 pages!

The spider will periodically return to the sites to check for any information that has changed. The frequency with which this happens is determined by the moderators of the search engine.

A spider is almost like a book where it contains the table of contents, the actual content and the links and references for all the websites it finds during its search, and it may index up to a million pages a day.

Example: Excite, Lycos, AltaVista and Google.

When you ask a search engine to locate information, it is actually searching through the index which it has created and not actually searching the Web. Different search engines produce different rankings because not every search engine uses the same algorithm to search through the indices.

One of the things that a search engine algorithm scans for is the frequency and location of keywords on a web page, but it can also detect artificial keyword stuffing or spamdexing. Then the algorithms analyze the way that pages link to other pages in the Web. By checking how pages link to each other, an engine can both determine what a page is about, if the keywords of the linked pages are similar to the keywords on the original page.

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Tutorial cPanel - .htaccess: part 2

The Apache servers are usually equipped with a number of configuration tools designed to help clients effectively administer their website. Few of these tools have the purpose and functionality of the .htaccess file, another handy feature found with the cPanel control panel. Though small, this file is quite powerful when put into action, giving users the ability to override the default settings of their hosting provider’s server.

Htaccess is merely a simple ASCII text file, yet it can be extended to perform many different functions. Some of its capabilities include password protecting the directories of your site, to preventing intrusion from malicious hackers and redirecting visitors to different locations on the web. In this article we will cover its unique ability to block IP addresses and specific domains.

Hide the .htaccess
The web contains a great number of sites hosting interactive member forums and blogs. These sites are often targeted by several spammers and malicious hackers. Website owners have been trying to come up with a solution to this issue for years with few results. However, the .htaccess file is a tool with the power to limit this intrusive activity and give you a bit of privacy by keeping out those IP addresses and domains causing all the ruckus.

.htaccess vs. IP Deny Manager

Although .htaccess files can be easily activated from within the cPanel, choosing whether to use them or not is a difficult call. This is a sensitive file with a lot of power, meaning it could inadvertently shut down your site or negatively impact the provider’s server when used incorrectly. For this reason, the IP Deny Manager may be a better solution, another feature of the cPanel which functions similar to .htaccess.

Just like the .htaccess file, the IP Deny Manager can be used to block IP addresses and domains from accessing your website. If there is a particular IP address or domain you wish to deny access, it can be done easily from the control panel by following these directions:

• log into the cPanel account
• locate the “site management” tab and click on “IP Deny Manager”
• find the “Add IP Deny” field and type in the address you wish to block
• click the “Add” tab

This activates the IP Deny Manager and keeps the internet intruders from harassing you. The only way they can gain access to the site is if you lift the ban. This can also be done using the .htaccess file or by simply selecting the IP from a drop-down box in the IP Deny Manager utility.


Both .htaccess and the IP Deny Manager are great solutions for protecting your website against unscrupulous characters. It can prevent data from being stolen and the spamming of your interactive features. Although .htaccess works well, the IP Deny Manager is the recommended choice as it will have no negative effects on your site or the provider’s server. If would like to try the .htaccess file, be sure to inquire within your web hosting and find out about their regulations before carrying on.

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