Fundamentals – SEO: Search Engine Optimization

SEO is one of the most confused issues about websites today. There seems to be a mistaken assumption that search engine optimization can answer all of the questions that marketing usually addresses.

It’s important to realize that inherently, SEO’s purpose is to entice a search engine into ranking a site higher within its’ index based upon certain search terms. The art comes when you try to trick a search engine into ranking you higher than you may deserve.

As in any system, there are loopholes that can be found. Search engines try hard to return legitimate results to their users requests. Even if your company is better than your competitors, -if they spend more effort, time, and money on their website than you, they will nearly always rank higher than you in search engines, -regardless of your SEO efforts.

Search engine ranking boils down to these factors:
* Search term prevalence
* Quality sites linking for relevance to this term
* Web standards compliance
* Longevity and comprehensiveness of site

If you take advantage of a loophole, count on the loophole being closed soon after your website launches. Search engines thrive on their relevance, -they are as anxious to plug the hole as you are to capitalize on it… -Count on their R&D budget far exceeding yours.

Here are a few of the facts:
* SEO can allow you to be more visible to search engines in your chosen phrases.
* SEO can allow you to cheat the system beyond your means, -but only for a short time.

Things to say to a developer
* What is the best Google page rank you have achieved for a site you have built?
* What is the average search engine traffic count for sites built by your company after a year of existence.
* If these questions are irrelevant to your process, in what way will you assist me in SEO, and increasing traffic?