“About Search Engine Land.” Search Engine Land. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.<http://searchengineland.com/about>.

Search Engine Land, overseen by Matt McGee the Editor-in-Chief, provides an in-depth explanation of the ranking of search engines and how the operate. The article claims that search engines want people to perform search engine optimization (SEO) because it can help improve their search results. Furthermore, the article claims that content quality, keyword usage, and regular updating of the content, factor in the success of having a webpage and make the top results.

This article is relevant to understanding search engines and how they rank websites. It depicts the factors that will help websites gain more visitors from organic searches. The article wants the readers to associate the features of webpages with search rankings and make direct correlations to determine how to increase them. This is useful in formulating a comparison between content and webpage ranking and determining which features of websites and webpages are associated with higher search rankings. Although it may be hard to test the factors for the effectiveness of SEO, it can help in evaluating rankings.

“How Search Engine Optimization Works.” HowStuffWorks. 17 Jan. 2008. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.

<http://computer.howstuffworks.com/search-engine-optimization.htm>.

How Stuff Works provides a general overview of search engine optimization and how it is used in two philosophies: the white hat approach and the black hat approach. The white hat approach refers to the usage of optimization strategies, techniques and tactics that focus on a human audience opposed to search engines. By contrast, the black hat approach refers to the use of aggressive search engine optimization strategies, techniques and tactics that focus only on search engines and not a human audience, and usually does not obey search engines guidelines.

This article is useful for understanding why search engine optimization is vital for anyone looking to make money on the internet and explains how having more visitors translates into more money. While some of the techniques might be questionable, the article is further useful in explaining why some large companies are willing to spend a considerable amount of money on search engine optimization consultants to increase the ranking of their company. The article is also helpful at revealing some of the challenges in search engine optimization approaches to find the right balance that satisfies both the visitors to the webpage and search engine spiders.

“How to Measure Website Performance and SEO Rankings.” HermesThemescom How to Measure Website Performance and Track Search Engine Rankings Comments. 14 Dec. 2014. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.<http://www.hermesthemes.com/measure-website-performance-track-search-engine-rankings/>.

As founder and lead developer at HermesThemes, Dumitru Brinzan article, “How to Measure Website Performance and search engine optimization Rankings.” discloses some of the tools and services used to analyze websites and track loading speed, performance, online presence & search engine rankings. Brinzan advices his readers to daily analyze aspects of their website’s performance as there is always something that can be tweaked and improved. Brinzan also advices his readers to monitor the performance of their main competitors as checking what they did to accomplish high ratings can be used to improve their own search engine rankings.

This article offers some useful tools that help in identifying and discussing strengths and weaknesses of websites performance and internet visibility. When investigating factors that increase a website’s ranking, it is useful to include a cross analysis of other websites with similar style and content that stand out from the competition. Evaluating the success rate of websites with high search engine rankings help to exam the concepts of search engine optimization and the contributing factors attributed to them.

Mason Gray, Chloe. “5 Things You Need to Know About Social Media & SEO.” 5 Things You Need to Know About Social Media & SEO. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.<https://blog.kissmetrics.com/social-media-and-seo/>

Chloe Mason Gray article, “5 Things You Need to Know About Social Media & SEO.” professes the importance that companies and agencies place on social media in regards to their search engine optimization strategy. Despite Google’s Matt Cutts having released a video which says that social signals do not affect search rankings, Mason Gray is confident that social profiles matter to Google and especially to people searching online. She wants marketers to see the value of having a profile with up-to-date info and engaging content and broaden their concept of search and search engine optimization to take into account the many ways people find content on the web.

This article is useful for evaluating whether social media influences searches and thus, play a role in search engine optimization. Although any research on the topic of search engine optimization should be critically analyzed, it is clear to Mason Gray that social media plays an important role in a person’s online presence. Therefore, the claims in the article support the viewpoint that an online presence through social media is important to consider implementing because of its added value to branding. The claims can also be used to argue the point that increasing social media presence can increase one’s search engine ranking.

 ” Web Directories and Specialized Search Engines.” Web Directories and Specialized Search Engines. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.

<http://www.webconfs.com/web-directories-and-specialized-search-engines-article-18.php>.

Although Google is widely recognized and used, specialized search engines are also an important aspect of search engines. Webconfs defines specialized search engines as a tool to include in a search engine optimization arsenal (an array of resources available for a certain purpose). As an alternative search to generic search engines, specialized search engines are selective about what part of the web is crawled and indexed. Even though not all the databases meet the standards of what users expect in a return search, a search engine which is specialized in a particular topic usually generates a better quality of results than a generic one.

Including specialized search engines in a research project is useful in defining the difference between the generic searches and specialized searches. Webconfs identifies the benefits of applying a more comprehensive search to find almost anything and advises on choosing the right search engines. Specialized search engines can save time as many gather useful sites from user submissions rather than through the normal spider/robot process.

“What Is Search Engine?” What Is Search Engine? Web. 15 Nov. 2015.<http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/s/searengi.htm>.

Founded in November 1998 in Salt Lake City, Utah, by Nathan Emberton, Computer Hope explains that a search engine is a software program or script available through the Internet that searches documents and files for keywords and returns the results of any files containing those keywords. The article also illustrates the correlation of search engines to a spider/crawler which automatically visits pages and indexes their contents. As data is collected, it is used to rank the page and is the primary method a search engine uses to determine if a page should be shown and in what order.

Any comprehensive research of the optimization of search engines should include an synopsis of what search engines consist of. In addition, to understand how search engines can be influenced to rank webpages higher, it is important to also know how it functions. Computer hope provides information on both what a search engine is and how if functions and includes its various algorithms (a list of instructions, procedures, or formulas used to solve a problem).

Annotated Bibliography Reflection

Thinking about my sources in respect to their usefulness is not a new concept to me but actually laying them out in an annotated format is. In all my history of writing, I was never asked to annotate a bibliography and never knew exactly what it meant. That being said, I am a believer in annotating and found this to be an important and necessary part of my bibliography. I also welcome the opportunity to participate in this exercise as it contributes in the value and credibility of my project.

I had never thought about a bibliography being anything other than a list or that it could stand on its own but this exercise has opened my eyes to that fact. Annotating my sources provide more meaning to them in a way that helps define the scope of my project. Deciding how the sources contribute to my thesis was my initial step in determining which ones to choose. My chosen sources are primarily based upon my intended arguments or points of view. Each source addresses a different point and therefore is streamlined according to value and usefulness. After choosing a source. I focus on specific research questions that help frame my thesis.

Some of my research questions are:

• What did the author want to accomplish and was the goal achieved?
• What method(s) did the author use?
• How credible is the author and what sources did he/she use?
• What is the point of view of the author and does the source support my argument?

This exercise on annotating bibliographies has changed the way I view and participate in writing. It calls me to take a more critical analysis when choosing sources and to know that evaluating a source is on what is being said is an important skill to become familiar with and master. I can see how using this tool has already enhanced my intellectual capacity to read intelligently and communicate cogently. Being able to provide a concise exposition to readers is my goal and the technique of annotating contributes to that outcome. I also find that I can apply the same concept to anything I read, see, or listen to.

Annotating my bibliography has helped me to formulate my content. By summarizing the sources and describing why the source are useful for researching, I was able to

The main and topic of my project is search engine optimization. The idea is that websites can be influenced to improve search engine rankings. Other key terms are:

• Spider (A program that visits websites and reads their pages and other information in order to create entries for a search engine).
• Black Hat SEO (refers to controversial SEO methods used to acquire higher Web page search engine rankings).
• White Hat SEO (refers to SEO strategies that aim to build a quality website over the long term by focusing on the website’s audience).