Search Engine Optimization

Chapter 4 talks about how the internet is fundamentally used to make information and documents easier to find. This is done through the process of looking for information on the Web by specifying words or phrases known as keywords in to search engines.

Every day people use search engines in order to find products and services that they may be interested in buying. Search engines give consumers the ability to conduct their own research on a given product or service before choosing to buy it from a retailer whether it be online or a physical retail store.

Many businesses nowadays are taking advantage of the terms that people are using to search in these search engines so they can beat competitors in search engine rankings. The goal of most businesses providing a service or product online is to be at the top of the page on search engine results. This is done through something called "Search Engine Optimization".

This is an internet strategy that considers what people search for, how search engines work, the actual search terms typed in to search engines, and what search engines are preferred by their targeted audience. (1) Anyone can create a website/blog and fill it up with content that interests them and optimize it to be number 1 on a search engine. An example of this is someone that is very much into bodybuilding and decides to create a website that revolves around bodybuilding, nutrition, and supplements. Over time this person will fill up their blog/website with articles on diet and nutrition and supplements. Eventually the site will gain a high number of daily visitors/traffic to the website after optimizing the it for a search engine by following certain guidelines such as making the pages primarily for users with real content, have a clear hierarchy and text links with every page having a sub page that is easily reachable from a static text link, make the site useful and information rich with pages that accurately describe your content, and keep the links on a given page to a reasonable number.(2) Once this site has built up adequate traffic it will allow the owner to place small advertisements on the site and also direct traffic to supplement/nutrition companies and in turn earn a commission.

Search Engine Optimization is very complicated and can be done if one invests a great deal of time or simply pays a company such as Amedia Creative to conduct the SEO for them. Some quick tips that one can follow are: Don't spam keywords, the title is important as it should be easy to understand (Google likes 70 characters or less), keep your meta description short as this is what shows up in your Google results, have a plan that won't be difficult to maintain, and don't try to trick the system because search engines have very smart algorithms - which is why they make so much money.(3) In the end, SEO is something that all online websites should pay attention to as the number 1 goal is being found on the internet. With a plethora of information scattered around the web, it is easy to get lost and SEO is what brings light to the ones in the dark.




1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization

2. http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo/how-search-engines-operate

3. http://www.kontain.com/amedia_creative/entries/122034/search-engine-optimization-quick-tips/