This is the first in a series of posts about SEO. Many of you reading this have probably at least heard of the term SEO. So what exactly is it? Is it just marketing a buzzword, or is it a worthwhile investment? In this post we’ll begin by briefly explaining what SEO is, and give a basic explanation on how it works. In the following posts, we’ll take a more in-depth look at how to implement a few SEO techniques.

SEO, which is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization, is the process of improving the placement or rank of a Web site in organic search results – not the ads. Typically, the higher the rank in search results, the more referral traffic you will gain from search engines.

It is important to understand what we mean when we say organic search results. The organic listings are the main listings you see when doing a search, while the paid links, or ads, typically run at the top or the side of your browser window. Not only are organic search results free, research has shown that consumer preference is placed on the organic search results rather than the paid links as people feel they carry a greater level of trust and authority. This is just another reason why SEO is critical to any online marketing strategy.

Search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN drive the majority of Internet traffic, and to better explain how SEO works it is important to understand how these search engines interpret the information on a Web site. Most search engines use computer programs, commonly called “spiders,” to search and analyze content on the Web. The information gathered by these spiders is crosschecked for validity, indexed, and stored in a database. The search engines use this information to determine the most relevant results for each search request.

Essentially, SEO is an of understanding how the search engines work combined with the knowledge of what users might search for when looking for your site. We’ll look at a few SEO techniques and go into more detail in our next posts, including optimizing the text, title and meta tags, images, link building and some do’s and don’ts when it comes to SEO.

In the meantime, if you would like to continue the SEO discussion or you would like feedback on another topic, feel free to join our LinkedIn group.

Related articles in Align:
• How to Pick Keywords for SEO
• Keyword Placement for SEO

Read more posts by Mike Barkley