Search Engine Optimization – Creating pages where the code is optimized to achieve a high ranking result when querying a search engine for predetermined keywords. 

Search engine optimization is not about knowing the latest “trick”, it is about good solid content presented in a logical and meaningful way. There is only one sure-fire way to get good rankings in the search engines – Good content. That was what worked in the early days of search engine optimization, and that is what works today.

There are those who believe that design is the most important aspect of web site construction. I think that a well-designed site is important, but not at the price of getting listed well on the search engines! If you spend thousands of dollars designing a web site, but nothing on optimization, then all your hard work may not be seen by anyone!

Oh sure, you can use tricks and shady tactics to get your site ranked well for a short time, but if the search engines find out you are trying to manipulate their data, they may penalize your site or even ban you entirely from their index! Once banned, you may never get in back in! A very high price for some short-lived rankings.

If you have an existing site you want to rank better or if you are just starting to think about building a site. One thing that you need to remember is that proper SEO (search engine optimization) does not happen overnight, it is a combination of many different things culminating in your site being positioned well in a search engine or directory listing. These changes can sometimes take up to 6 months or more to show up in some search engines databases.

Most web sites are built to look good, not rank well. For these sites often simple search engine optimization techniques are enough, depending on the competition for the keyword/phrase (s) required. However, I find that some basic work can often make dramatic changes to a site’s rankings for a given keyword/phrase search.

For instance, if your site built entirely in Macromedia Flash it will have a very hard time ranking at all. 

There are many search engine optimization companies out there today looking for your business. I can only tell you that there are no secrets to SEO, only hard work, and an understanding of how search engines view and index your web pages. Anyone can do this work, but not everyone has the time to. If you want to have a go at search engine optimization, check out some of the links on this site. There are links to SEO forums, and discussions as well as links to do it yourself tools.

Making changes to your website to make it more “search engine friendly” is what is referred to as search engine ranking or search engine optimization. If your site is designed well utilizing proper SEO tactics, you should rank well in the search engine listings. There are a lot of gimmicks and “SEO silver bullets” out there on the web, but it has been my experience that the sites that are designed well will consistently rank well. The gimmicks may work well for a short time, but once the search engines catch on to the tricks they can penalize your site for spamming.