How do search engines rank websites?

There are 9 different search engines that control 90% of the search engine traffic in the world. Each of these search engines has a specific criteria (algorithm) that it uses to analyze web sites. These algorithms typically consider around 60 separate aspects of a website and compare them against other rival sites which are designed to be found for the same or similar keywords and phrases. Websites that rank highly on results pages are ones that adhere the closest to the specific search engine algorithm.