Search Engine Optimisation
Search Engine Optimisation, (commonly known as ‘SEO’) is a strategy that businesses and individuals have started to employ in recent years, to increase the number of times that their website or a particular web page appears in search engine results. Search engine optimisation is done via "natural" or un-paid (“organic” or "algorithmic") search results. There are several other forms of search engine marketing (abbreviated to SEM), many of which target paid listings. In general, the earlier (or higher on the page), and more frequently a web site appears in a list of search results, the more visitors it will receive from the users of the search engine – and, therefore, the more publicity or profit it will attract. SEO can target different kinds of search, including searches for images, local searches, searches for videos, academic searches, news searches and industry-specific vertical search engines. This gives a website a ‘web presence’ – that is to say, it appears in the first few pages of search engine results.
SEO takes into consideration how search engines work, the specific topics that internet users search for, the actual search terms typed into search engines, and which search engines are the most popular among their targeted audience. Making a website SEO-friendly may involve editing its content and HTML, and associated coding, to both increase its relevance in relation to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. Another SEO strategy is publicising a site to increase the number of back links, or inbound links, that it receives.
The acronym "SEOs" can refer to "search engine optimisers". This term has been adopted by consultants who carry out optimisation projects on behalf of their clients, and also by employees who undertake SEO services in-house. Search engine optimisers may carry out a SEO project as a one-off service, or as a part of a wider marketing campaign. The term "search engine friendly" is used to describe online content that has been adapted to ensure that it features more prominently in internet searches: website designs, content management systems menus, images and videos, and other features that have been optimised in order to gain search engine exposure.
Another type of technique - known as “black hat SEO” - uses more technological methods such as link farms, keyword stuffing and article spinning. Keyword stuffing is the deliberate repetition of a word or words in web content, with the aim of convincing search engines that the content is more relevant to that search. Although these methods are effective in promoting content on the web, they degrade the relevance of search results and the quality of users’ experience with search engines. Search engines have started to look for sites that employ these techniques in order to remove them from their indices.
The leading search engines, such as Google, Bing and Yahoo! use crawlers to find pages for their algorithmic search results. Pages that are linked from other search engine indexed pages do not need to be submitted because they are found automatically. Some search engines, notably Yahoo!, operate a paid submission service that guarantee crawling for either a set fee or cost per click. Such programs usually guarantee inclusion in the database, but do not guarantee specific ranking within the search results. Two major directories, the Yahoo Directory and the Open Dictionary Project, both require manual submission and human editorial review. Google offers Google Webmaster Tools, for which an XML Sitemap feed can be created and submitted for free to ensure that all pages are found, especially pages that aren't discoverable by automatically following links.
Search engine crawlers may look at a number of different factors when crawling a site. Not every page is indexed by the search engines. Distance of pages from the root directory of a site may also be a factor in whether or not pages get crawled. Additionally, search engines sometimes have problems with crawling sites with certain kinds of graphic content, flash files, portable document format files, and dynamic content.
