What is SEO?
SEO is short
for Search Engine Optimization, the process of increasing the amount
of visitors to a Web site by ranking high in the search results of a
search engine. The higher a Web site ranks in the results of a
search, the greater the chance that that site will be visited by a
user. It is common practice for Internet users to not click through
pages and pages of search results, so where a site ranks in a search
is essential for directing more traffic toward the site.
SEO helps to
ensure that a site is accessible to a search engine and improves the
chances that the site will be found by the search engine.
Search engine
optimization (SEO) as a subset of search engine marketing seeks to
improve the number and quality of visitors to a web site from
"natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results. The quality
of visitor traffic can be measured by how often a visitor using a
specific keyword leads to a desired conversion action, such as
making a purchase or requesting further information. In effect, SEO
is marketing by appealing first to machine algorithms to increase
search engine relevance and secondly to human
visitors. The term SEO
can also refer to "search engine optimizers", an industry of
consultants who carry out optimization projects on behalf of
clients.
Search engine
optimization is available as a stand-alone service or as a part of a
larger marketing campaign. Because SEO often requires making changes
to the source code of a site, it is often most effective when
incorporated into the initial development and design of a site,
leading to the use of the term "Search Engine Friendly" to describe
designs, menus, Content management systems and shopping carts that
can be optimized easily and effectively.
A range of
strategies and techniques are employed in SEO, including changes to
a site's code (referred to as "on page factors") and getting links
from other sites (referred to as "off page factors"). These
techniques include two broad categories: techniques that search
engines recommend as part of good design, and those techniques that
search engines do not approve of and attempt to minimize the effect
of, referred to as spamdexing. Some industry commentators classify
these methods, and the practitioners who utilize them, as either
"white hat SEO", or "black hat SEO".Other SEOs reject the black and
white hat dichotomy as an over-simplification.
|