Search Optimization Explained

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the position of a given website in the organic or natural results on a search engine. The purpose of improving the organic search results would be to increase relevant traffic volume and quality to the website of potential customers.
Search engines determine these results based on their individual algorithms. The algorithms are designed to produce the most relevant results for targeted words being searched for. These words, used by actual humans looking for a specific good or service, are referred to as Key Words. So the algorithm is the formula that the search engine uses to produce results based on the websites most relevant to the terms in the target search. The earlier a site is presented in the search results, or the higher it "ranks", the more searchers will visit that site.
For instance, more people searching for a particular good or service will look through the first page or two of results, than will visit a result that shows up five pages back in the search results. Consequently, the websites that are listed on the first page of the search results will get the lions share of the visits and the websites listed three pages back tend to get almost no visits.
As a marketing strategy for increasing a website ranking or relevance, the Search Engine Optimizers consider how search algorithms work and how the target audience will search for a particular good or service. Search Engine Optimizing efforts will involve a website's coding, presentation, content and structure, as well as fixing problems that could prevent search engine indexing programs from fully indexing the site. Search Engine Optimizing may also include adding unique content to a site, ensuring that content is easily indexed by search engine robots, and making the site more user friendly.
This means the Search Optimizer has to be able to determine which keywords are most likely going to be used by potential customers when they are looking for what the website has to offer. It is of little value to target a key word or phrase that has little relation to what the website has to offer since it will just frustrate the people searching and will not result in quality traffic to the site.
Another class of techniques, known as black hat SEO or spamdexing, use methods such as link farms and keyword stuffing that tend to harm search engine user experience. Search Engines employ people and programs to look for sites that employ these techniques and when discovered remove them from their indexes. Since the sole purpose of a Search Engine is to produce Relevant information each and every time a human user uses their service, they take a very dim view of those that would try to falsely manipulate or pollute those results.
SEO has become synonymous with "search engine optimizers", an industry of consultants who carry out optimization projects on behalf of clients. Search Engine Optimizers may offer SEO as a stand-alone service or as a part of a broader marketing campaign. Because effective SEO will require specific elements in the HTML source code of a site, Search Engine Optimizing tactics should always be incorporated into web site development and design. The term "Search Engine Friendly" may be used to describe web site designs, menus, content management systems and shopping carts are after they have been optimized.