In today's day in age everyone knows what a search engine in is. However, most people do not understand how search engines work. It really isn't as difficult as most people think. Search engines are basically like phone books for the Internet. They look through websites and decide which pages are relevant for the keywords searchers enter into the search engine. For example, when you enter the word cars the search engines will display a list of sites that deal with cars.

How Do Search Engines Decide Relevance?

Search engines use specific algorithms to decide which websites are relevant for specific keywords. They use programs to crawl through each site and decide what the website is about. These programs look at a number of things to determine what the site pertains to. It looks at the name of the website as well as the text on the page. There are also a number of items such as Meta tags and website names that are considered by these algorithms. It seems very complicated, however, if you understand what the search engines are looking for, you can quickly optimize your website.

On Page Optimization

On page optimization is the process of optimizing the web page that the visitor sees. You would optimize things such as text on the page, headers, and page titles. This means you would need to include the keywords you will be using for your website in these areas. Most SEO experts agree that using keywords 4% of the time is exactly what is needed for search engine optimization. This means that if you have a web page with 500 words you should include your keywords at least 20 times. However, don't go overboard using keywords too many times can actually cost you credibility with the search engines. This is considered as page stuffing. It is frowned upon and considered a bad tactic to take.

Off Page Optimization

Off page optimization is the process of optimizing things your customers won't see. Off page optimization includes your link building campaign and use of social networking. These items are kind of like advertising on the Internet. Your goal should be to get a link on as many websites as possible. However, this isn't as easy as it sounds. Most people only want to link to websites that have excellent content. Therefore, you need to make sure your page has something other people want to talk about. This can be the latest fashions, news, or simply information others might find helpful. Whatever the case your website pass to provide something for your visitors, and other peoples visitors, before you will get links. You do have the option of using social networking sites to build up hype about what you have to offer. In this regard you get to control what is said.

SEO is an Ongoing Process!

The thing you need to consider is that SEO is an ongoing process. You cannot simply post a few pages, obtain a few links, and brag on a few social sites, then expect to be the number one site in the search engines. Anything you can do someone else can do as well. For this reason your SEO campaign should be ongoing and be continually updated with new techniques a new strategies. Search engines are constantly evolving and changing the practices they will allow and will not allow. In the same manner websites are always changing as well. Sites you link to today can go bad, very quickly, tomorrow. For these reasons you need to constantly monitor your search engine standings and make changes as they are needed. Do not simply sit back and think you have finished the job, things you do today to raise your results could be ineffective tomorrow. The truth is SEO is an ongoing battle and as long as there are web masters who try unethical techniques the changes will be ongoing.