If you are running a website or an online business, the probability that you are not aware of the term 'SEO' is almost negligible. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. This is the most modern technique to advertise a website over the internet. By proper utilization of the SEO methods, one can increase the traffic to his website and hence his business on the whole.

In the early days of SEO, the main practice employed was the optimization of content present on the webpage. The internet users searching for specific information did so by entering a specific phrase in the search engines. These phrases were split into words and different websites over the internet were searched for the presence of these words. These words are known as the 'keywords'.

Presently, many more methods of SEO have come into practice. These methods mainly deal with link sharing, link building and boosting the page rank of the webpage. The first method among these is called link sharing. It is known that search engines show those sites which have traffic originating from a greater number of websites higher up in the ranking. Hence, website owners have found a method to increase incoming traffic by placing the links to each other's website on their webpages. This method is mutually beneficial to both the websites.

The second method is termed as link building. Link building relies on placing a number of incoming links to your website on different websites with similar content. Link building is different from link sharing in the sense that you do not have to post the links to any other website on your web page. The best ways to succeed in this technique are: a) Submitting your website link to paid or free web directories, b) Posting articles containing your website link to various article directories, and c) Posting comments on popular blogs and forums with link to your website in your signature.

The third method deals with improving the page rank of your webpage. The page rank is nothing but importance that the search engine gives to the content on your webpage. For instance, a page ranked higher will receive a better position in the search results than a page ranked lower. The main thing you have to do to achieve higher page ranking is to optimize the content on your webpage. Secondly, you need to see that your website has traffic coming in from a number of other websites. Hence, look into the possibility of link trading in this case.