| Short for search engine optimization, the process of increasing the amount of visitors to a Web site by ranking high in the search results of a Search Engine.The higher a Web site ranks in the results of a search, the greater the chance that site will be visited by a user. It is common practice for Internet users to not click through pages and pages of search results, so where a site ranks in a search is essential for directing more traffic toward the site.SEO can also target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, and industry-specific vertical search engines.
SEO involves adding content to your website that search engines such as Google and Yahoo! use to rank your site in search results. Ranking is based on several things like link building, Website promotion, search engine marketing, etc., but the most important aspect is the relevancy of the content to the search terms. When people enter keywords related to your product or service on a search engine, your website will appear higher in the list if the content on your website is relevant to the user's search terms.
The term "search engine" is often used generically to describe both crawler-based search engines and human-powered directories. These two types of search engines gather their listings in radically different ways.
Crawler-Based Search Engines
Crawler-based search engines, such as Google, create their listings automatically. They "crawl" or "spider" the web, then people search through what they have found.
If you change your web pages, crawler-based search engines eventually find these changes, and that can affect how you are listed. Page titles, body copy and other elements all play a role.
Human-Powered Directories
A human-powered directory, such as the Open Directory, depends on humans for its listings. You submit a short description to the directory for your entire site, or editors write one for sites they review. A search looks for matches only in the descriptions submitted.
Changing your web pages has no effect on your listing. Things that are useful for improving a listing with a search engine have nothing to do with improving a listing in a directory. The only exception is that a good site, with good content, might be more likely to get reviewed for free than a poor site.
"Hybrid Search Engines" Or Mixed Results
In the web's early days, it used to be that a search engine either presented crawler-based results or human-powered listings. Today, it extremely common for both types of results to be presented. Usually, a hybrid search engine will favor one type of listings over another. For example, MSN Search is more likely to present human-powered listings from LookSmart. However, it does also present crawler-based results (as provided by Inktomi), especially for more obscure queries.
SEO helps to ensure that a site is accessible to a search engine and improves the chances that the site will be found by the search engine.
http://www.pntglobal.com
Reference:
Wikipedia, webopdeia and searchenginewatch |
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