Basically, a search engine algorithm is a set of rules, or a unique formula, that the search engine uses to determine the significance of a web page, and each search engine has its own set of rules. These rules determine whether a web page is real or just spam, whether it has any significant data that people would be interested in, and many other features to rank and list results for every search query that is begun, to make an organized and informational search engine results page. The algorithms, as they are different for each search engine, are also closely guarded secrets, but there are certain things that all search engine algorithms have in common.