What's SEO?

          In an age of nearly infinite information on nearly an infinite amount of topics, there is a way to get exactly what you want in less than ten seconds. This is what a SEO, "search engine optimization" or "search engine optimizer," does.

                                 "Click Here for a Quick Overview!"

         Search engine optimization is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine's natural or organic search results. In general, the higher ranked on the search results page and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine's users. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search, academic search, news search and industry-specific vertical search engines.

          As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work, what people search for, the actual search terms or keywords typed into search engines and which search engines are preferred by their targeted audience. Optimizing a website may involve editing its content, HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. Promoting a site to increase the number of backlinks, or inbound links, is another SEO tactic.

          All major search engines have primary search results where web pages and other content is shown and ranked based on what the search engine considers most relevant to users. Payment isn’t involved, as with paid search ads. It involves writing pages that use keywords, words people use in searches, and securing links from other pages to show how important your page is compared to others. The more popular your links, the more likely you'll be clicked to page one.

Getting Better Search Results

1. Write content that uses words and phrases used by customers
2. Build links to your pages to show they are important
3. Repeat

          If you're thinking about hiring an SEO, the earlier the better. A great time to hire is when you're considering a site redesign or planning to launch a new site. That way, you and your SEO can ensure that your site is designed to be search engine-friendly from the bottom up. However, a good SEO can also help improve an existing site.

Questions to ask a SEO include:

• What kind of results do you expect to see, and in what timeframe? How do you measure your success?
• What's your experience in this industry?
• What's your experience in this area?
• What's your experience developing sites?
• What are your most important SEO techniques?

There are red flags that you may be dealing with a rogue SEO.

• builds or owns shadow domains
• puts links to their other clients on pages
• offers to sell keywords in the address bar
• doesn't distinguish between actual search results and ads that appear on search results
• guarantees ranking, but only on obscure, long keyword phrases you would get anyway
• operates with multiple aliases or falsified info
• gets traffic from "fake" search engines, spyware, or scumware
• has had domains removed from Google's index or is not itself listed in Google

          Whether or not you want to build up your own site or hire a SEO, your job as the owner of your content is to create a great site, provide something people need and are looking for, and share your site with other great sites. Don't be sold by magic formulas or algorithms that guarantee the success of your sites. Instead, do business for the quality of your work instead of the quantity.

Want to know more?
Search Engine Land: What is SEO?
Red Evolution: What is SEO? It's Simpler Than You Think!
Google Help: Do You Need SEO?
SEO Starter Guide