What is Search Engine Optimization?
Posted on 16. Aug, 2007 by ComCorp in Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization is the process of improving the ranking of a website in the various search engines formulas or algorithms in order to increase the web traffic which is directed to the site. This can be accomplished by revisions in the underlying coding, structure and presentation without much being apparent to the human visitors to the site. Other efforts concentrate on adding content to the pages, which will be favorably perceived by the search engine spiders, while at the same time increasing the interest by the human visitors.
Almost as soon as the first search engine spiders were crawling the web sites looking for new pages, which had been indexed, i.e. submitted for placement on the web. The web master or developer for a certain site would submit the URL to the various major search engines who would in turn send a search engine spider to collect information from the URL and bring it back to the search engine’s own server where an additional indexer program would categorize the page data according to the words included, where they were placed on the page, and sometimes whether additional weight was to be assigned to any of the words. Any and all links from the page were also stored in a search engine scheduler so the spider would return to the site periodically to re-
index the information.
As soon as web site developers realized the importance the search engine spiders placed on the keywords, some of them began using unscrupulous methods to artificially inflate the number of keywords on a given web page. There were several strategies incorporated to accomplish this task some less ethical than others. For instance, html coding typically includes meta tags, which are inserted by the web developer in order to help the search engine spider determine the subject of a page. This legitimate usage, however, became adulterated when some developers began inserting keywords into the meta text. Sometimes they even included words that had no relationship to the subject of the page. Some of the ‘black hat” methods included things like filling white spaces with white on white text containing keywords or spam information. These words would not be visible to humans looking at the page, but the search engine would see the words and use them to rank site links and popularity counts.
The search engines developers also recognized the opportunity for deception and began backing away from the emphasis on meta keywords. Now, most search engines do not support the use of meta tags and Google has stated they use meta tags as a basis for spam detection. Because of the deceptive practices by some web authors, search engine developers realized they needed to develop more complex search engine algorithms, particularly those that rely less upon the input of the web masters.
The next step in search engine optimization was on the side of the search engines themselves with the development of software that calculated the probability of a given web page being reached by following links from one page to another across the web. This probability was stated as a PageRank. The same people who developed the PageRank software established Google search engine in 1998. Programmers liked the search engine and its popularity spread. Web programmers soon saw a way around the Google site with its emphasis upon off page factors and responded to Google by preparing and marketing “link farms” where thousands of links could be bought and sold and entered onto the web sites of the paying clients.
Today, the four major search engines, Google, Ask.com, MSN, and Yahoo use far more complicated algorithms, including both off page and on-page factors. In theory, these algorithms are secret, but SEO personnel are constantly testing and trying various methods of determining what the algorithms are. They are quick to share the information on various web sites, blogs and forums, sometimes for a price. The study and review of any patents or other material published by the search engines, is used to capture additional information.
In addition to capturing better rankings with high rated web pages, web masters recognize that the number of web conversions is important to gain business links as well. Conversions is the number of visitors who actually carry out a desired action after arriving at the website in question. The action might be signing up for a newsletter, purchasing a product, or asking a question online.
Increasing the web conversion rate may be accomplished by increasing the number of visitors, and improving the meta descriptions of the page to make it more accurately represent the content.
Search engine optimization companies who use techniques considered false manipulation of the results can find their client’s sites banned by Google and Yahoo. Normally, reputable companies would not use techniques considered ‘black hat’, but more and more frequently, those optimizers who rely on such techniques will find their sites banned or blocked by search engine companies.
Most major search engine companies now operate programs designed to help the web master insure that they are being reached by the spiders crawling the web. Search engine companies understand that helping the entire industry grow strong is the best way to retain their own business.
The two main types of search engine optimization are known as white hat SEO and black hat SEO. White hat SEO is not just a matter of following a series of rules that will guarantee a high ranking in the search engines. White hat SEO focuses on good content, involves no deception and makes certain that the content that the spider sees is the same content seen by the reader. Black hat SEO techniques use methods that are disapproved of by the industry in order to increase the rankings. They may redirect a viewer from a site that is built to attract a spider to one that is suitable for human viewing. They may use very light text fonts on a page that the human viewer will not notice, but will be seen by the search engine spider.
Search engines can and do penalize such black hat SEO sites by blocking or reducing rankings of the sites.
The primary focus of good SEO techniques should be to treat the spider as just another visitor to the site and focus on building strong markets through good content, correcting technical weakness in the way the site is structured and working through other problems with presentation and customer service from increased visitations.
Please view the Search Engine Optimization Services provided by ComCorp, Inc
