August 31, 2006 - What is this SEO thing anyway?

Well the short answer is Search Engine Optimization, but thats begs even more questions itself. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is one piece of the whole that is SEM (Search Engine Marketing). I guess the next question is what is with all these TLAs (Three Letter Abbreviations)? Well that is a whole other question that I will cover in another post.

Simply put, SEO is the practice of modifying the HTML markup of a website and building links to that site so that it performs well in the search engines. Some might say that is not fair play. I mean if rankings can be manipulated then how am I, the searcher, going to get results which are not tainted? And why should search results be based on these factors and not something like actual traffic which, at first glance, might seem a reasonable criteria to base results on? Well, the internet is and always has been the great equalizer. It is the one place where a good idea, a little programming and an internet connection can make a successful enterprise out of the unlikeliest sorts. Google itself, which now has about half of all search market share, was started in a garage by a couple of Stanford guys with a brilliant change to the then familiar search engine. (Okay, I know a Stanford garage is really a pretty nice place, but you get the idea!)

So what differentiates SEO from SPAM? Well in a lot of cases they are one in the same, but when done ethically SEO has a tremendous positive effect on internet searching specifically and the web as a whole. When people ask me if SEO is done for search engines or done for the visitor, I tell them that they should be one in the same goal. If done correctly you should be improving the user’s web experience while boosting a site’s rankings at the same time.