What is Search Engine Optimization?

Anyone who uses the internet on a regular basis will frequently come across the term ‘search engine optimization, also known as SEO. Someone who is merely browsing the internet may see the term and ponder over the meaning of search engine optimization? But while the average person may be simply curious about its meaning, website owners are fully aware that answering the question can be vital to their marketing strategies and website success.

Definition of Search Engine Optimization

Most often, websites and web pages are found on the internet through search engines. In essence, SEO is used to improve visibility of a website within a search engine. The basis of search engine optimization is using various tools to increase search engine rank of a website and placing it in the most favorable position so that it appears more frequently when a person makes a query through a search engine. When a person is looking for a topic through a search engine such as Google, search results will appear in a list. Higher ranking sites in the list of search results are displayed first, which draws more visitors to the website.

What is Search Engine Optimization Used For?

On the internet search engine optimization is most often used as a marketing strategy. SEO targets different types of searches such as local, news, images and videos. This information is used to track what people are looking for, including the exact terms that are typed into the search engine. A website can be optimized to make it relevant to specific keywords or phrases. SEO is also used to eliminate some indexing obstructions contained in some search engines. This includes the ability of a search engine to index information contained within forms and other content such as frames, flash and Java applets.

Content and Search Engine Visibility

Important to the basic understanding search engine optimization is awareness of how search engines function. Even if the website is technically built correctly, there may be issues that prohibit a search engine from seeing some of its content. For instance, if a website contains broken links or insufficient link structure, search engines will not be able to read all of the website content. The reason for this is that search technology displays results based upon relevance and importance to the search term. In order to generate website popularity, which is the job of the search engine, the content of the site has to be marketed by the search engine. This can only be done if the website is properly optimized.

While it is often used to promote a site using inbound or back links, effective SEO strategy means making sure the links are structured properly. Lastly, search engines give a lot of importance to quality. Therefore a well optimized website must be marketed by someone who knows search engine optimization and can use SEO to help place the website to obtain the best search engine rank possible.

To know more about SEO, visit the Online Marketing FAQ section of flyingcowdesign.com