Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search Engine Optimization is a part of search engine marketing and can be defined as the number of activities supposed to have websites achieve high rankings on search engines by using keywords or search terms.
Since search engines are free of charge, these search results might be a good alternative for SEA (Search Engine Advertising). Each type of campaign has its own pro’s and cons.
How it is done
In general, search engine optimization occupies three area’s of expertise.
- Optimization of OnPage / OnSite elements (Website structure, content and the website platform)
- Maximizing the number of external backlinks (Also known as link building)
- Keyword analysis (Analyzing popular keywords, determining the traffic volume on keywords and analysing the quantity, quality and authority of competing websites on those keywords)
White hat SEO versus Black hat SEO
Google defined a set of rules for search engine optimization which got labeled “White Hat SEO” but there are also a number of ways to exploit search engines without applying these. These methods are unadvised and not profitable in the long run. For example adding a number of keywords in the same color as the background of the page so website users can not see them but webcrawlers can. These methods can sometimes work for a short period of time but eventually they will result in the punishment by search engines since they influence the genuine search results. German car manufacturer BMW was once removed from the search index for 30 days for using a landingpage built only from keywords while the ‘real’ visitors were redirected using a javascript.
A couple of OnPage white hat SEO methods explained
- Using keywords in the domain name
- Using keywords in anchor texts
- Using keywords in page titles
- Using keywords in heading tags
- No dynamic page parameters in a URL
- Limited directory depth
- The use of keywords in anchor texts
Search engine ranking
Up until now it is still unknown how exactly search engines like Google define the Search Engine Results Page (also known as SERP). It is an automated system based on search ranking factors in which every factor has a numeric weight. According to Google they use over 200 different search ranking factors. Many SEO professionals have tried to analyse these search ranking factors and try to rank them on importance to be able to optimise online marketing campaigns even further.
Pagerank
Pagerank is one of the few search ranking factors we know for sure having a significant influence on the results. In 1998 the original pagerank algorythm was introduced by the founders of Google; Lawrence Page and Sergey Brin.