Search engines: how results are chosen and ranked

Circle the correct answer.

1. What is “fake news”? news about fake flowers     false information made to look like real news     news from the future     any news you don’t like
2. A search engine is a bit like which person? a librarian     a chef     a farmer     a pilot
3. Is the first search result always true? yes, if it is long     yes, if it has pictures     no, you still need to check it     yes, always
4. How does a search engine find new webpages to add to its index? it waits for you to type them     programs called crawlers visit and read pages     it guesses     people post letters to it
5. Which is a good way to check a fact you found online? ask a stranger online     check it has lots of emojis     find it on two or more reliable websites     believe the first site
6. What does a search engine look through to find pages quickly? an index     a printer     your photos     a dictionary
7. Which question helps you judge whether a website is trustworthy? Is it colourful?     Who made it and why?     Does it have a long URL?     Does it play music?
8. What does a URL tell you? how old the page is     the address of a webpage     how many people liked it     whether a page is true
9. What does “ranking” search results mean? putting them in order with the most useful at the top     printing them     deleting them     colouring them in
10. Which of these websites is most likely to be reliable for a history project? a random comment on a video     a museum website     a pop-up advert     an anonymous joke page
11. What is a search engine? a part of a car     a program that finds webpages for you     a website that sells engines     a type of keyboard
12. Why do two people sometimes get different results for the same search? search engines can use things like location and past searches     the internet is broken     results are chosen at random     one of them typed in capitals
13. What do you type into a search engine? your password     nothing     your home address     keywords or a question
14. Which search is likely to give the most useful results about frogs’ life cycles? frog life cycle     stuff about things     frogs     animals
15. Why might some results at the top be labelled “Sponsored” or “Ad”? they were written by teachers     they are the most true     someone paid for them to appear     they are about sport

learnwith.games – free to print and copy for home and classroom use. learnwith.games/printables/search-engines/

Secret code joke

Worksheet

1. What is “fake news”? false information made to look like real news
2. A search engine is a bit like which person? a librarian
3. Is the first search result always true? no, you still need to check it
4. How does a search engine find new webpages to add to its index? programs called crawlers visit and read pages
5. Which is a good way to check a fact you found online? find it on two or more reliable websites
6. What does a search engine look through to find pages quickly? an index
7. Which question helps you judge whether a website is trustworthy? Who made it and why?
8. What does a URL tell you? the address of a webpage
9. What does “ranking” search results mean? putting them in order with the most useful at the top
10. Which of these websites is most likely to be reliable for a history project? a museum website
11. What is a search engine? a program that finds webpages for you
12. Why do two people sometimes get different results for the same search? search engines can use things like location and past searches
13. What do you type into a search engine? keywords or a question
14. Which search is likely to give the most useful results about frogs’ life cycles? frog life cycle
15. Why might some results at the top be labelled “Sponsored” or “Ad”? someone paid for them to appear

learnwith.games – free to print and copy for home and classroom use. learnwith.games/printables/search-engines/