SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization
SEO is the art of improving a websites visibility on the web when people use a search engine. There are hundreds of search engines. However, If you are optimized for the top 3 – Google, Yahoo and Bing then you are reaching over 90% of the search audience. Below are the results from comScore on search engine market share:
| comScore Explicit Core Search Share Report* January 2011 vs. December 2010 Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations Source: comScore qSearch |
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| Core Search Entity | Explicit Core Search Share (%) | ||
| Dec-10 | Jan-11 | Point Change | |
| Total Explicit Core Search | 100.0% | 100.0% | N/A |
| Google Sites | 66.6% | 65.6% | -1.0 |
| Yahoo! Sites | 16.0% | 16.1% | 0.1 |
| Microsoft Sites | 12.0% | 13.1% | 1.1 |
| Ask Network | 3.5% | 3.4% | -0.1 |
| AOL LLC Network | 1.9% | 1.7% | -0.2 |
SEO Priority for Google, Yahoo and Bing
There are definitely differences between how each of the top 3 search engines generate their search engine results page (SERP). Given the fact that Google represent over 60% market share, it makes sense to optimize first for Google before looking at any other ranking factor differences between Yahoo and Bing. Also, since Google is the leader in Search the followers tend to “copy” what Google does. Although this is not entirely true on all fronts it holds true more than it doesn’t.
Search Engine Optimization and what it means to you:
Since you are reading this site I assume you have heard of SEO and are wanting to know more. There are plenty of websites, blogs, books, and videos on the internet that you can read and thoroughly confuse yourself further on this elusive, ever changing industry.
The problem with researching the web for SEO material is this material quickly becomes out of date. You might stumble on a website that does Black hat SEO and now your website gets black listed from google. If you are wanting to do minimal optimizing on your own website then a few hours of reading should turn up enough to give you a good start.
However, if you want to consistently rank on the first page of one or all of the top 3 search engines then I highly recommend you seek out a qualified professional to assist you. Determine what a first page ranking for your keywords will mean for your business and what you would be willing to pay .
SEO: White Hat vs Black Hat
In short White Hat: Good – Black Hat: Bad. White Hat SEO professionals follow the guidelines for best practices as set by the Search Engines themselves and industry leaders in the SEO field. White Hat SEO professionals focus on quality content over keyword stuffing. Quality links over hundreds of low quality links from unknown sites.
Black Hat SEO involves “gaming” the system such as paying for links, using content farms and other tools to generate low quality content and then juggling the words around enough so it looks like multiple unique articles. These tactics are the bane of Search Engines and one they go to great lengths in rooting out of their algorithm’s. These tactics might work but only for a while and have no part in a long term sustainable SEO practice.
Local SEO
An area that is gaining its own distinction is Local Search or Local SEO. A local search will usually involve a city name which will only return search results within that city and its surrounding area. There are different signals the search engines use to give priority ranking to businesses. This space is heating up with Google spending more development dollars to localize search. This is evidenced by their revamping Places page to focus on reviews for local businesses. Expect social media to be a strong signal here in the future as Google has plans to integrate Google + with Google Places. You can read more about Local SEO here.
