Search Engine Optimization
 

What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and describes a process which ensures that your Website is accessible to search engines, improving the chances of your Website being found.

Why is SEO important?

If your Website ranks high in the search engine results, the number of visitors to your Website will likely increase as well. Search engines are the key to finding information on the Internet. Without search engines, it would be nearly impossible to locate anything without knowing a specific Website address. The higher a Website ranks in the results of a search, the greater the chance that the site will be visited by a user. Users are most likely to view the first few pages returned by a search result as opposed to the hundreds or thousands of pages listed thereafter As a result, you will want your Website listed on one of those first few pages if possible, which is where SEO enters the picture.

How does a search engine work?

There are three types of search engines that will index your Website: Those that are powered by crawlers, or spiders; those powered by human submissions and a combination of the two.

Crawler-based engines send crawlers or spiders to visit Websites and return the information back to a central depository to be indexed. On the other hand, human-powered search engines actually rely on humans to submit the information, and then it is indexed and catalogued.

In both situations, when you search the Internet, you are actually searching the index in which the search engine has created. It's like a giant database!

How do the search engines decide where to place my page?

Search engines use algorithms (a formula or set of rules) to determine what is relevant information in relation to what the user is searching for. Additionally, not all search engines use the same algorithm.

What type of algorithms do the search engines use?

One important element that a search engine algorithm scans for, which most of us are aware of, is the frequency and location of keywords. Another common algorithm is the way in which pages link to other pages on the Web. By analyzing how pages link to each other, and the number of pages linking to a Website, the search engine can decide what the pages are about and if they are important. If so, they may get a boost!

Which search engines are the most popular?

The largest and most often used at this time are Google and Yahoo.

Email Alor Web Design Services today at info@alorwebdesign.com to take the next step in your business plan ~ creating a Web presence!