SEO Basics

I am sure you have already used a search engine, if you have been on the Internet more than 1 day. A search engine uses an algorithm (mathematical model) or a set of criteria in order to provide you with the results of what you are searching.

Users specify (by typing search terms or phrases) an item of interest and the search engine uses this search query to find the most relevant results for the users.

Search engines generally have different algorithms and often very different parameters for delivering the results that users are seeking but in general most search engines want to accomplish the same thing, which is to deliver the most relevant search results based on the users search query.

The search algorithm or scoring system runs a crawler (also called a spider or harvester, and some other names) to score a web page based on the most relevant terms and phrases. The crawler sorts and ranks the content of the page ( and the website) and provides ranking or “positioning” of the website and the webpage in its database so that future search query can look into the database and find the response ranked the highest for the search query. Some search engines do this 'live' using a database of parameters previously calculated.

Now this is a simplistic way to look at how pages are ranked, but in essence it is sufficient to continue with discussion of SEO purposes. You have to consider that the most popular search engine companies don’t want to gives too much technical details on how exactly their search engine really works, for obvious reasons.

The leading companies that offer search engines include, Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft. All of these use crawlers to find a webpage which will be ranked using a ranking system that is based on a proprietary algorithm as mentioned above.

The Ranking System

The ranking system uses a few parameters to rank a webpage. Below we have listed probably the key parameters, although others probably exist and are proprietary and not divulged by the search engine companies:

	Relevance (based on similarity)
	Relevance Feedback
	Popularity (or sometimes called authority)
	Penalization as a result of ‘spamdexing’ (attempting to cheat the system)

Relevance is calculated in the algorithm based on the way the search query returns a relevant webpage, i.e. if you are searching for “baby toys” you want the search results to provide websites that offer baby toys. Relevance is also established by analyzing all the other websites that link to the webpage which indicates its relevance, e.g. baby toy manufacturers and major retailers, etc.

Relevance Feedback refers to the way the user reacts when he/she is presented the search results. If the user clicks on a top link in the results page and after a few seconds decides it wasn't what they were wanting and return to the search results page again to click on the next link, it is assumed that the first link was not as relevant as originally assumed. However, in the world of the search engine algorithms, quantity is very important. Therefore one person going back probably will not make much difference in the relevance of that page to be positioned higher or lower.

Popularity is about the way the search engine decides how popular a website is and to what degree it is significant search for a various terms and phrases. When a website received links from other high traffic websites that have high relevant terms, then the popularity is higher of course. This is called ‘PageRank’ by Google and Yahoo calls this a WebRank.

Spamdexing is the spamming of the indexing and attempting to cheat the search engine system. It is unethical and will affect the positioning of the website. It is best to be avoided since it does not help and only harms your search engine positioning. See Search Engine Guidelines.

In summary, here’s the best way to get better SEO positioning for your website:

	Provide good content by including information that users want
	Offer genuine content that is refreshing, insightful and informative
	Adhere to the Google, Yahoo, MSN guidelines and other search engines
	Build highly relevant web pages by writing content that is sensible & relevant
	Contact companies with highly relevant websites and ask them to link to you
	Don’t use LinkExchange, in our experience it does not work
	Don’t try to cheat the system, it will not work
	Don’t do spamdexing, it will cost you the indexing of your website
	Don't stuff your web page with terms and phrases for search engines
	Don’t break the rules, it is not worth it

Use these general pointers and you will be surprised that within a few months, your website will start to rank higher and bring traffic to your pages, and often more sales. For more detailed step-by-step guide see our Search Engine Optimization page which has much more details on SEO and effectiveness.