Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
What is SEO?
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the application of techniques to improve the performance of a page or website in the search engines for relevant search terms.
Because of the reliance on many websites on the search engines for traffic, achieving high rankings in the search engines for your product names can be the difference between success and failure in the online world. This reliance on search engines has caused growth in the amout of information on the subject, and the number of companies that are willing to provide SEO services. It is a highly competitive industry, but "the proof is in the pudding". No business is more reliant on search engine optimisation than those companies that offer these services to others. Search for search engine optimisation on Google, who are the #1 internet search engine in the world, will quickly identify who is good at it, and who is not.
These articles are intended to explain the key concepts and terms, but I am not offering my services...at least, not directly.
Google came to prominence in the late 1990's using a new algorithm that meant it decided for itself what a webpage was about, rather than relying on the webpage author for that information. The key effect of this was that Google's results were more relevant that their competitors', and therefore more popular. This occured at a time when other search companies were expanding their services. Google's focus on search combined with a very simple interface proved a winning formula.
The exact algorithm that Google uses to calculate where pages rank in their search results is a closely guarded secret, and constantly evolving. In order that Google's results remain the most relevant, they fight a constant battle to ensure their ranking system cannot be manipulated. SEO is the counter to this - the aim of SEO is to improve a website's performance in the search engines.
You might think that Google would be against all SEO, but they're not. They provide guidelines and even an SEO Starter Guide for how to improve your website's performance in their results. Google encourages good practice SEO because it helps them identify what websites and their pages are about, which in turn helps them provide the most relevant results to their users and keeps them as the world's most popular search engine.
Ultimately, search engine optimisation can be encapsulated in one phrase, "what's good for your website visitors is good for the search engines". Apart from structural basics, which I'll explain in my next article, providing plenty of original content, relating to a specific subject matter and regularly updated, is the single best way to ensure the search engines pay attention and rank your website well.