You’ve probably heard of SEO if you already own a website or have done business on the Internet. For those who have not heard of it, here’s a brief explanation.

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the process of improving the organic search engine rankings for a website. The purpose of improving your search engine rankings would be to increase traffic to your site. SEO is defined as a process because it’s an on-going project. Even if you are ranking #1 for one or 2 keywords you’ve been targeting, there are plenty of others you can optimize for. Your job is really never done as long as there is room for growth and improvement.

SEO is also the job title given to an individual who specializes in SEO. So, SEO can either refer to Search Engine Optimization or Search Engine Optimizer.

When we talk about Search Engine Optimization, there are 2 types:

• On-site: making changes to the on-site content, features and structure of a website to improve its visibility in the search engines.
• Off-site: increasing the strength and popularity of a website through external methods, such as link building or social media.

Since the 1990s, search engines have continued to fine-tune their algorithm to reduce spam and improve search engine results. According to Google, they use over 200 signals in their search engine ranking algorithm.

What is a search engine algorithm?

Generally speaking, an algorithm is a formula used to calculate or solve a math problem. In math, algorithms do not change. However, in the case of search engines, changes occur frequently as engineers find new improvements to the algorithm. The whole purpose of search engine algorithms is to provide the best search results for users. As you can imagine, search engine algorithms are very complex. You are essentially asking a computer to do the task of a human.

Related Resources:

• History of Google’s algorithmic changes: https://www.moz.com/google-algorithm-change
• Introduction to SEO for newbies
• SEO Tools and Resources
• Intro to Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising

Got questions about SEO or how to find a reliable SEO company? Ask me.