Commonly known as SEO, search engine optimization is the process of improving a website so that it ranks higher in search engine results. When people do searches in Google, MSN, or other search engines, you want your website to appear on the first page, ideally as close to the top as possible. 

Why does ranking high matter? Ranking high in search engine results pages gives your website better visibility. People are most likely to stay on the first page of a results page and choose a link that appears there, so ranking high should be top priority. This is where search engine optimization (SEO) comes into play. Search engine optimization plays an important role in ranking. Let’s take a look at how it works.

Search engines use bots that crawl pages all over the web. They go from website to wesbite, page to page, collecting information about every page and adding them to an index. This index can be thought of as a library. Algorithms then analyze the results of this crawling and indexing and determine where in the search engine results these pages should appear. Since the websites and pages have been read throroughly, search engines place the most relevant ones to specific searches on the first page. The more relevant the result, the higher on the page it will appear. This is extremely useful for users who are searching for a product, service, or solution to a problem. Users know that the top results can be trusted and are relevant to what they are looking for. 

Some of the reasons your website isn’t yet ranking high in search engine results include the following:

• The website is too new. Older websites tend to rank higher as they have had time to build up content and trust. Patience is key when it comes to ranking as a newer website. 
• You haven’t included keywords and key phrases that users are searching for. Keyword research is a crucial part of search engine optimization and ranking higher. 

What are some of the thing you can do to ensure search engine optimization success? SEO success can be achieved by exploring a few different avenues. On-page, which refers to the content on your website, is what visitors will see when they visit your website. All of the text, images, audio, and video play a role in the success of your search engine optimization. On-page also includes parts of the website that only search engines can see. To improve SEO success, you want your content to contain relevant keywords. 

Technical refers to things that affect your website’s performance and visibility. A website that loads slowly, for example, can hurt your ranking. Other things included pn the technical side include URL structure, crawling, and indexing. 

Off-page, which refers to things that are not on your website, include social media marketing, pay-per-click marketing, and link building. These all play a role in search engine optimization and should be taken as seriously as on-page and technical areas. 

Search engine optimization can help improve not only the quantity of traffic to your website, but the quality of traffic.