Search Engine Optimization
As a business owner or marketing manager, you understand the importance of getting your website listed 'organically' on the first page of Google when your relevant keywords are searched. After all, most web surfers do not look beyond this first page when looking for information, products, or services on the Net. So, if you aren’t on that first page, you aren’t likely to bring in much new business.
Unfortunately, you cannot simply create a website and hope it will get listed on the first page. In fact, it takes quite a bit of effort and careful planning in order to achieve these results. This process is called Search Engine Optimization. The person who do the optimization fo your website for search engines called SEO Search Engine Optimizer.
The difference between organic SEO and paid search
There are two types of results found on search engine result pages - links that are there thanks to organic SEO and links that are there due to paid search. First, let's take a look at organic SEO.
Organic SEO
When you reach the top of the SERPs with organic SEO, well, that's pretty awesome.
Organic SEO (aka "natural SEO" or "white hat SEO") describes search engine optimization efforts that do not involve sponsored listings or paid campaigns of any sort.
Organic search engine optimization is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines by means of natural SEO efforts, specifically including the optimization of on-page content.
Paid SEO
Paid search refers to sponsored search results- ads displayed typically on SERP because advertisers have pre-paid campaigns with search engines that help promote their services or websites.
These sponsored ads often appear above or alongside the organic search results.
Programs such as Google AdWords allow advertisers to bid on keywords they want to match up with their advertisement. When a browser enters one of those keywords in a search query, the advertiser's link and brief description may appear on the following SERP. If a browser clicks on the link, the advertiser must pay a certain amount of money associated with the PPC campaign.
BAD SEO (Black Hats)
Black Hats don't look good on any website...
Another class of search engine optimization techniques (which is really anything but), is known as black hat SEO or Spamdexing. Black hat SEO uses methods such as link farms, keyword stuffing and article spinning that degrade both the relevance of search results and the user-experience of search engines.
These are big no-no's for two reasons: you'll aggravate honest web surfers, and get a bad rap with search engines. Believe it or not, search engines are on the look out for sites that employ these techniques so that they may mark them as spam, penalize them, and remove them from their index.
Why Good SEO is important...
As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work, what algorithms they employ, as well as what people search for, and how they search.
The people who perform SEO - Search Engine Optimizers
The acronym "SEO" can also refer to "search engine optimizers," a term adopted by an industry of consultants who carry out optimization projects on behalf of clients, and by employees who perform SEO companySEO services in-house.
Search engine optimizers may offer SEO as a stand-alone service or as a part of a broader marketing campaign.
Because effective SEO may require changes to the HTML source code of a site, SEO tactics may be incorporated into website development and design. The term "search engine friendly" may be used to describe web site designs, menus, content management systems, images, videos, shopping carts, and other elements that have been optimized for the purpose of search engine exposure.