Chapter 1- What is SEO

Ever wondered on the fact on why some websites are on the top rank in comparison to others. All this has been possible due to the powerful technique of Search Engine optimization or referred as SEO. It is a technique where your website ranks on top in comparison to the millions of websites on any search query that you have posted. In simple terms, it helps you get traffic from the various search engines.

The Mode of Operation of SEO

The basic fact is that search engines are not humans. They undertake a host of procedures to derive the optimum search results. Let us understand the process hereby

  • The first stage is crawling where they see what is there on the web. This is undertaken by a software known as spider or crawler. By this method, you can figure out on what the crawler detects from your website.
  • Then you come to the stage where you index the content. This is incorporated into a gigantic database from where on you can generate it later. It is all about describing  the words and expressions of the page.
  • When a request for any search comes the engine goes on to process it. This is undertaken with the help of the string that is done in comparison to the indexed page embedded in the database. Since close to a million pages are involved, the search engine goes on to estimate the relevancy aspect in each of the search engines with the help of the search string. Various algorithms are in place to determine the frequency level.
  • The last step in this stage is to go on and retrieve the results. It basically displays the results of the search on the browser

Underlying the difference between the various search engines on offer

Though the mode of operation of all the search engines is on the same page, but a small tinkering can contribute to a difference in the relevance levels. For each search, one factor tends to be important. On a lighter note, it has been stated by some experts that the algorithms of Bing stand poles apart in comparison to Google. Say for example in the case of Google links are very important, whereas in the case of Yahoo the keywords on the page are important. So in the case of Google, you may need more time for your site to mature and reach the top.