Internet
search engines exist to organize the seemingly immeasurable
amount of information available on the web. They direct people
to pages that are relevant to their searches, pages that discuss
the exact keywords they are looking for. For businesses that
receive the majority of their clientele from search engines,
search engine rankings can make or break their business.
Search
Engines
Search
engine optimization (SEO) is a marketing technique that enhances
a website and its content in order to increase the chances
of achieving a high rank the search engine result pages (SERPs).
Search engines are very secretive about their criteria and
ranking systems as they continuously update and revise their
algorithms (mathematical formulas used to determine which
web pages are displayed in search results), and therefore
there is less likelihood of webmasters and search engine optimizers
being able to achieve higher rankings by manipulation and
spamming.
Every
search engine has its own formula and criteria for indexing
and ranking pages. One can analyze SERPs and backward links
(all the links pointing at a particular web page) and attempt
to determine a search engine's indexing criteria, however
there's a lot of risk involved in relying on a limited number
of optimization techniques.
Because
of the unpredictable nature of search engines, websites can
easily move from a top ranking position on a SERP down to
the third or fourth SERP or even be banned from the search
engine altogether.