Techopedia explains Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Definition - What does Search Engine Optimization (SEO)mean?

Search engine optimization (SEO) refers to methods used to increase traffic to a website by increasing its search engine page rank.

SEO often involves improving the quality of the content, ensuring that it is rich in relevant keywords and organizing it by using subheads, bullet points, and bold and italic characters. SEO also ensures that the site’s HTML is optimized such that a search engine can determine what is on the page and display it as a search result in relevant searches. These standards involve the use of metadata, including the title tag and meta description. Cross linking within the website is also important.

Techopedia explains Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engines attempt to rank results for a given search based on their relevance to the topic, and the quality and reliability a site is judged to have. Google, the world’s most popular search engine, uses an ever-evolving algorithm that aims to evaluate sites in the way that a human reader would. This means that a key part of SEO involves ensuring that the website is a unique and relevant resource for readers.

The following methods are common ways to improve a website’s SEO. These methods are called white hat SEO because they aim to improve search rank by improving the user’s experience on the website. 

• Increasing keyword depth
• Increasing interlinking
• Improving the organization of content on the page

Black hat SEO involves techniques such as paying to post links to a website on link farms, stuffing the metadata with nonrelated keywords, and using text that is invisible to readers to attract search engines. These and many other black hat SEO tactics may boost traffic, but search engines frown on the use of such measures. Search engines may punish sites that employ these methods by reducing their page rank or delisting them from search results.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Definition - What does Search Engine Marketing (SEM)mean?

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a process by which multiple methods are utilized to improve market visibility and exposure for a brand, product or service.

SEM mechanisms include Search Engine Optimization (SEO), social networking, bid placement, pay-per-click (PPC), contextual advertising, paid inclusion, geomapping, AdSense and AdWords, as well as multiple media formats, such as YouTube and geospecific marketing, like Foursquare.

Techopedia explains Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Search Engine Marketing tools include

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Maximizes search result exposure by targeting and driving Web traffic and ultimately delivering increased sales. The majority of search engine page results come from unpaid or organic search. SEO optimizes websites to ensure top search engine placement, such as Google, as only 15 percent of searchers continue beyond page one.
• Social Media Marketing (SMM): Focuses on branding, reputation enhancement and enhanced customer service via social networks like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. Smaller SMM channels include Digg, Delicious, Wikipedia, StumbleUpon and MySpace. Social networks are visited by a collective total of over one-billion people. Thus, even the simplest marketing efforts, like paid advertising, reach potentially large audiences.
• Paid Search: Examples of paid search include sponsored links, banner and sidebar ads, where contextually generated ads are based on organic search results.

SEM is represented by the following sectors: 

• Consultancy/marketing services: 12 percent 
• Retail: 10 percent 
• Financial services (including insurance): 8 percent 
• IT, software and education: 70 percent

SEM increases Web activity in the following ways:

• Engaging users
• Driving traffic
• Enhancing brand awareness and reputation
• Increasing search engine result pages (SERP)
• Selling products or services
• Generating leads
• Providing content for research purposes
• Increases conversion rates