What Does Search Engine Optimisation Mean?

There is no straightforward answer to this question. Search engine optimisation means different things in different contexts. To everyone, it is the collective name given to a set of processes by which a website can be optimised for visibility within the results pages that are delivered by search engines in response to search queries. However, this umbrella term belies a complexity and diversity of approaches that can be so different as to call into question the value of the overarching term.

In the context of web development, search engine optimisation means designing the layout and content of a website in such a way that these features present no major obstacles to search engine web crawlers. Search engine ranking algorithms place greater value on websites that are easily navigated, digested and categorised by web crawlers than those which are difficult for crawlers to understand.

However, search engine optimisation does not begin and end on a website itself. As well as the structure and arrangement of content on a website, search engines take into account the larger web structure into which individual websites fit. In other words, search engines also measure the relationship between websites and use this to determine their value and relevance to search users making particular queries. As a general rule, the more inbound links that lead to a particular website, the more value and relevance will be placed on that site.

To understand the importance of link building, one must first understand how search engines work. The web consists of millions upon millions of individual websites, so search engines face the daunting task of evaluating all these sites for relevance and value every time a search user enters a query. Since this task would be impossible for a human being, it is completed by a computer program. That computer program relies on certain pre-programmed metrics to determine relevance and value, and the most effective of these discovered to date is the inbound link profile. On the web, a link is effectively a 'vote of confidence' for the quality of the content that resides at the link destination - by directing other web users towards that page, a webmaster is telling his or her visitors to take a look.

Although the search engine optimisation industry is still in its infancy, it already commands a great deal of interest in business circles. Some companies that operate in the search engine optimisation industry call themselves "search marketing" businesses because they aim to advertise a website within the organic results delivered by search engines to their users. With the vast majority of web traffic that goes through search engines ending up at a site from the first page of results, it is hardly surprising that so many businesspeople are prepared to pay for higher rankings as this can bring an audience far greater than adverts in the most popular publications.

Search engine optimisation is different for web developers, webmasters, businesses, professionals and content writers, but it is important to everyone with an interest in the internet. On the web, search engines control people's options, and this gives them great power and influence over the habits of web users. Through effective search engine optimisation, members of the online community can take a share of that power for themselves.