• Search Engine People , Wednesday, September 24, 2008 2 PM

The next generation of searchers (and possibly, search marketers) is already scouring the Web for help with their homework, as well as product info and random fun Web sites. Ruud Hein digs into the way kids search and why parents (and teachers) need to help them understand how the results are chosen and displayed.

"It's not only important to teach that the results of these searches aren't impartial, objective or in some logical order but that they're ranked according to a calculation which combines measures of relevancy and popularity," Hein says. "It's important to show how [the way] this is measured and calculated differs from search engine to search engine. Doing [an] .edu search about 'political freedom' on Google, Yahoo and Live returns quite different search results."

Hein offers some examples for how to explain to kids the way that engines rank results, as well as future thought points, like teaching them how to verify the validity of the info that a result links to.

Read the whole story at Search Engine People »