Sometime in the last 20 years webmasters and website owners realized that organizing a website for Search Engine Optimization or SEO was critical. Initially you submitted your website address to a search engine. The search engine would then schedule the address to send a small program called a spider or crawler.
The spider would essentially check out what you just sent. It would look at important words or keywords, links, as well as other facts about the page. Those things were given ‘weight’ or importance. That was the point people realized how important the process was.
The weight which your site was given determined the ranking on the search engine. Ranking was important because as with all human nature a person generally is not going to go through pages and pages of results. Being in the first two or three pages when a person does a search is critical to getting the traffic and eventually the sales you want. Being on the first page is the ideal to work towards.
So Search Engine Optimization was born.
Using a system to essentially convince the spider that your site was important to the person searching became part of the ‘work’. Search engine owners realized that some people were doing this and that they were doing it unfairly. Unfairly might be practices such as ‘stuffing’ the page with the keyword to the point the page did not make much sense.
Most search engine owners do not look at keywords solely any more. Another factor a search engine owner might use is to look at the number and quality of inbound links. Unfortunately some people have developed unfair systems to build links that were not ethically gotten.
This brought about different systems by companies such as Google or Yahoo to out maneuver those people. The formulate they use is complex and takes various characteristics of a website page into account. Of course those systems or formulas are closely guarded and changed regularly. There is still much work that a website owner can do though.
Why these companies are successful
As world has changed Search Engine Optimization has changed. Real time sites like Facebook, Twitter, or even blogging has created a need for search engines to work faster. People want to be able to connect faster and on a more fundamental level. Although traditional, ethical characteristics are still important, it has become important to incorporate those into a continuous supply of fresh and different content.
Search Engine Optimization in the present would includes posting content every day or every other day. It includes fresh thoughts and unique ways of looking at things. Luckily some search engine owners have made a more concentrated effort to interact and have a relationship with webmasters and website owners.
This relationship has created a synergy that is critical to helping the reader find what they want and need more efficiently. Helping the reader directly leads to helping the website owner and their bottom line. Search Engine Optimization has change dramatically and will continue to change. It is definitely going to be an area to concentrate your time and resources on.
