A query term when entered in a search engine and searched for, results in a list of results containing the particular query term. It is only natural that people tend to visit and pay attention the most as the ones that are more likely to be the ones most relevant to the topic at hand. The differentiation between the sites appearing upper or lower in the results is due to a suite of powerful techniques known as search engine optimization.

What Is SEO?

SEO is a host of techniques amounting to a process that affects how visible a web page or website is in the results of a regular or natural or un-paid (“organic”) results yielded by a search.

Why Does My Website Need SEO?

SEO is an indispensable at the hands of all those who wish to make their visibility better or even bearable. It ensures that your site stands a chance of being seen among the often hundreds and thousands of its competitors for that particular phrase or keyword. Its popularity is mainly derived from the following facts:

• Only 1/4th of searchers view beyond the first page of results.
• It helps to create trust and credibility
• A brand is created with its help
• It is quite cost-effective

Why can’t the search engines figure out my site without SEO?

In spite of the fact that search engines are evolving into really discerning entities but the fact remains that they are yet to be omnipotent and still require our help. They are in a state of constant flux in order to better their results and reach. However, a word of caution- if not properly utilized it may result in disaster as far as the site’s visibility is concerned.

It is of great use if you wish to better your ranking apart from its utility in enhancing content visibility as the site is now made easily found by web surfers. With the increasing competition SEO has become an absolute must for small and big businesses alike.

Parts of SEO
SEO techniques can be separated into White hat SEO and Black hat SEO.

White Hat SEO
The white hat bouquet of techniques related to SEO refer to those optimization techniques, tactics and strategies that primarily is aimed towards human beings in place of search engine spiders and is in compliance of the varied policies and rules of search engines.
It is a set of techniques that optimize sites for search engines while yet being aware of relevance and ranking in the organic results. Link building, analysis of keywords, back linking and quality content are some of the strategies involved.

This line of action is often pursued by those who wish to make investments and commitment on their websites for the long term.

Black Hat SEO
Black Hat SEO is the holy grail for the audience wishing to make some quick money without committing themselves to any long term commitment of investment.

Black Hat techniques do not generally do not focus on a human audience but rather targets search engines aggressively often at the cost of the guidelines as laid down by search engines. We can take for example- doorway pages, stuffing of keywords, addition of unrelated keywords, swapping of pages or changing it completely after it has been ranked by search engines and invisible text.

Which set of techniques to go for while doing the SEO of your site is something that depends on the objectives of your website, however remember content is king.