What is SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is phrase used a lot in internet marketing and, while internet marketers try to make it seem more mystical than it is, it can be fairly easy to understand. It’s crucial that you take a second add this working definition of SEO to your understanding so that you are not led astray by false ideas and offers from “SEO professionals.”  It’s best to split the definition into two parts:

Search Engine
You probably know how to use a Search Engine like Google, Bing, or Yahoo but understanding what a Search Engine is may be a little bit more difficult. A Search Engine does three things: it crawls, it indexes, and it serves. Consider a library. A librarian must go through every book and then index it according to category and then help you find the right book when you’re looking for it. Search Engines do just that. A super computer sends out millions of little “spiders” or “bots” on a “crawl.” Those spiders or bots read everything on the internet and then come back and give that information to their computer. Then Google, Bing, or Yahoo take that information and index it and categorize it so if someone asks for “restaurants in madrid” it knows where to find that information in the computer. The last thing Search Engines do is give you a list of results to your search. Those results are served up from the computer and arranged based on relevance to your search.

Optimization
Optimization is the work done on a website to help Search Engines crawl, index, and serve up your website when someone searches for something related to your website’s content. A lot of where you are placed in those results has to do with the quality of your website. Things like the cleanliness of your website’s code, whether or not you have appealing content, and whether or not you are adhering to the Search Engine’s codes of conduct.

If you are concerned about your SEO and overall website content and want to understand how well your website is crawled, indexed, or served, we can help. Call us for a quote: (800) 900-8536.