Search Engine Optimization is the process by which you improve the relevance and ranking of your site results on various search engines like Google, Yahoo etc. Also known by the acronym SEO, this form of marketing helps ensure the best quality and quantity of visitors to your site. Given that it involves HTML coding and content generation, it is best to incorporate the learning before making the site rather than afterwards to avoid expensive rework.

How Does It Work?

In order to understand SEO, you need to spend some time in understanding how search engines work. Most engines employ automated software agents to crawl the World Wide Web on a periodic basis to collect information on the various websites hosted therein. This information includes site content as also content of linked sites and is compiled into a central repository or index which is updated periodically. Now when you type in a keyword, an algorithm unique to each search engine scans the index (not the complete web contrary to popular belief!) to find what are the most relevant results for you. Since no two algorithms are the same, different sites throw up different results.  While the overall rating process is complex and confidential, it is broadly based on two parameters:

1. Frequency and location of the said keyword on the pages which determine the relevance to the search.
2. Number of inbound links on the page which establish its relative importance vis a vis other pages with the same key words.

Now SEO providers can work to help improve the ranking in any of the following ways:

1. Helping you rewrite your site’s content and HTML file names to feature the right key words. The ‘right’ keywords are nothing but the probable words that a prospective client might use when searching for a service or product.
2. Ensuring that there are no barriers to the ‘indexing process’ – Meaning that the site’s menus, design and other features are ‘crawler friendly’. Without this there would be no featuring on the index.
3. Helping you explore genuine cross linkages from related sites, blogs which enhance inbound links and therefore your chances of a higher ranking.

Is It Ethical?

You may wonder why you need to do this and whether it’s illegal in any way. That depends on the kind of SEO methodology you employ and your objectives. Like any other marketing initiative, SEO helps you get the attention of your prospective customers and should be treated as such. Misusing it to create artificial links to your site or stuffing with keywords is usually counterproductive as the search engine technology is geared to detecting the ‘fakes’ and you could end up getting banned. Most importantly the ‘algorithm’ is being continuously improved, so some things that work today may not work tomorrow. For example, most engines are trying to move to a ‘concept based’ search instead of ‘keyword based’ one which could end up hurting you if you compromise content for keywords.

Nearly every company today is opting for some or other kind of SEO to stay ahead of competition. Including an understanding at the very beginning helps you balance your content needs with SEO goals – for the most part they should be easily reconcilable. Trying to redo the site later is always difficult and expensive if not impossible.

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