In my role as a search engine consultant, many people ask me what search engine optimization (SEO) is all about. Well, here's an explanation!
Search engine optimization is a relatively new business area and one which, as the name suggests, is very closely related to search engines.
As many people will know, search engines represent a type of service provided online to help internet users find information as quickly and easily as possible. Popular search engines include the market leader, Google, plus the likes of Yahoo and MSN.
When you type in a search on one of these search engines, you are then presented with a list of results. The software behind the search engine effectively finds what it considers to be the best matches for your chosen search.
So, where does search engine optimization fit in here?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is all about trying to get a website to appear more highly in the search engine results.
Achieving this can be done in a number of ways, but will usually include a range of techniques. Typically, a search engine consultant might look to make changes to the structure of the website, to the way in which content is presented and to the underlying website code.
The consultant may also adopt a range of "off-site" techniques - these might include increasing the number of other sites that link to the target site.
In effect, the target of search engine optimization is to increase the number of visitors to a particular site, by improving the site's search engine rankings.
