What Is Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization is nothing more than changing your page around so crawler-based search engines, like Google, will rank it higher which will hopefully result in more sales, readers, etc. Search engine optimizers are the people that do that optimization. Both phrases are abbreviated as SEO, so make sure you look at the context in which the acronym is being used.

SEO is part of a larger field called SEM, or search engine marketing. Search engine marketing means you are using search engines to market your website via search engine optimization or search engine advertising. Just like with SEO, SEM can also refer to search engine marketers.

The different ways you can do search engine optimization is to do either on page or off page optimization:

On Page

On page optimization is stuff you do to your site. Using header and meta tags, making a title that uses lots of keywords, and writing good content are all examples of on page optimization. Generally speaking, most SEO services will do on page stuff, it costs a lot more to have them do off page changes as well…

Off Page

Off page optimization are changes you make outside of your website. You have less control with things that happen on other websites, but it is still possible to get good changes done. Getting links with keyword-rich anchor text and increasing PageRank are two of the more common forms of off-page optimization.

When Optimization Collides

There are times when On and Off page optimization collide, for example social media optimization. In case you have been living under a rock and you don’t know that it is, social media sites are places like MySpace, Digg, Del.icio.us, and StumbleUpon.

To get good at social media optimization you have to be good at writing good content, and you either have to be popular and submit stuff yourself or let someone else submit the content. Most people do social media marketing to get more links to their site, especially during its infancy.

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