Search Engine Optimization

 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) involves optimizing web page content so that it will rank as high as possible in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) on sites like Google and Yahoo! Optimizing a web page is pretty straightforward but can be confusing for someone who has never tried it. The secret is that the search engines have to recognize the page as both relevant and authoritative.

If a user searches for the term “bicycling” on Google, then the search engine will attempt to return the most relevant web pages. This is determined not by just looking for the word “bicycling” but also by looking for terms related to “bicycling” such as “bicycle”, “riding”, “cycling”, etc. A web page that contains the search term and related terms is ranked higher than a page that just has multiple uses of the search term.

In addition to the use of the search term and relevant words, the search engine also looks at the page title and the titles of any subheadings in the document. If the page is titled “Cooking Avocados” but contains no references to cooking or avocados, then the search engine will know that it is not a relevant page for someone looking for information on “cooking avocados”.

The search engine considers a web page to authoritative if other relevant web pages link back to the page in question. These return links are known as “backlinks” and are very important in SEO. The more sites that link back to the web page you are optimizing the more authoritative it will appear to the search engines and the higher it will rank on the results page, meaning that it will receive more traffic.