Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

What is SEO?

SEO is the process of improving the volume of traffic to a web site from search engines through "natural" or un-paid means. This is opposed to Search Engine Marketing (SEM) which deals with paid inclusion and sponsored links in search results.

Typically, the 'higher' a web site appears in the search results, the more traffic it will receive from that search engine.

SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, content search, video search and vertical search engines.

'SEO' can also refer to 'search engine optimizers', or the people who do the optimizing. They are usually consultants or employees who carry out optimization projects on behalf of their clients.

Effective SEO can require changes to the HTML source code, keyword and cross-linking activity.

Keyword and Cross-link activity

Using keywords to attract search engines can involve the unethical practice 'stuffing' the your web site content with keywords or hiding them in the content using tricks with the code. These practices are know as 'Black-hat' SEO, and search engines work hard to exclude web sites that use them.

Alternatively, 'White-hat' keyword activity involves the genuine creation of relevant content that search engines will find. This is not a method as such, but merely the adding of content to a web site that a user will find relevant to their search.

White-hat SEO versus Black-hat SEO

A SEO technique is considered 'white-hat' if it conforms to the search engines' guidelines and does not involve deception. But, white-hat SEO is not just about following guidelines, but is about ensuring that the content a search engine sees is the same content a user will see.

White-hat advice is generally summed up as: creating content for users, not for search engines. It is also important that content is made easily accessible to the search engines, rather than attempting to trick the search engines into finding the content.

Black-hat SEO, on the other hand, attempts to improve search engine rankings in ways that involve deception. For example, using text that is hidden as text coloured similar to the background, or positioned off screen. Another method is 'cloaking' when a website displays differently depending on whether the page requested by a human visitor or a search engine. Search engines may penalize sites they discover using black-hat methods, by eliminating their listings from their databases.