What is SEO and Why is it Important to You?

SEO is an acronym for "Search Engine Optimization" or "Search Engine Optimizer".

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of tweaking a Web Page so that it ranks higher in the search engines with objective to increase the quantity and quality of visitors/traffic to your website via un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results. Search engine optimization makes your Web Pages readable (crawler friendly) for the search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo and MSN.

SEO is simply following sound website development practices in creating a positive experience for the website visitor. Since more than 90 percent of all traffic to websites today is generated via the search engines, SEO is an essential tool to produce a high return on your Web investment. You can have the best website on the planet, but if no one can find it, it serves no purpose! Not paying attention to search engine optimization will result in losing business to your competitors who sell similar products or provide related services.

The probability of generating web traffic (someone clicking on your link) to your website increases the higher your website appears in the search engine result listing (for particular search terms). Achieving positioning::

	On Page 1 in Position 1 - You have achieved your SEO objective.
	On Page 1 – Superb positioning for particular search phrase.
	On Page 2 or 3 – Very good positioning with a high probability that searchers will click on your link.
	Beyond Page 3 – Insignificant positioning as most users rarely go beyond page 3 of the search results.

SEO delivers potential clients to your website who may never have heard about your business in any other way. However, the decision to actually shop or use your services depends on the strength of your message and what you have to offer.

Search engine search results pages include the organic listings and paid advertisement listings indicated as Sponsored Links in Google. The Sponsored Links are pay per click links resulting from an Search Engine Marketing (SEM) program with the search engine company. A Search Engine Marketing program has no effect on the organic positioning of your website in search listings (and Google PageRank) and once you terminate your SEM, your link will no longer be in a prominent position in the Search Engines. Therefore achieving high search engine results with SEO is more desirable and cost-effective in the long run.

The ranking (putting in order of most importance) of Web Pages by crawler-based search engines are determined by the relevancy of the content to particular search terms/phrases. Search engines have closely kept their algorithm to determine relevancy and achieve ranking secret. These algorithms are made up of a set of rules on the location and frequency of keywords and other factors.

All the major search engines now also make use of "off the page" ranking since creative webmasters have abused the location/frequency systems to gain better Web Page rankings. These “off the page” factors cannot easily be influenced by webmasters and include the amount and quality of cross linking and click through measurements. Search engines also lower the ranking of high-ranking Web Pages with a low click rate and promote lower-ranking pages that attract visitors.

The Google PageRank is based on a link analysis algorithm to measure the relative importance of Web Pages on a 10-grade scale. Google decided that if a Web Page links to another one, it is effectively casting a vote for the other page and the more votes your page get, the more important your page must be. A Web Page that has relevant links from many pages with high Google PageRank receives a high rank itself. A Web Page that has no links pointing to it has no support and have a low Google PageRank. Use the Google Toolbar that can be downloaded to check your PageRank.