Introduction
Currently, the large amount of data content that has been fed in the Internet makes it difficult to retrieve certain important information. Therefore, various search engines have been developed make the retrieval process easier. So, many internet users rely on the search engines to obtain right information. The search engines have the ability to find and filter the relevant information to suit the users. The Internet users require quality and relevant information for every page searched. Therefore, the search engine used should suit the desire of the users appropriately.
However, many search engines such as Google only depend on page rank to measure page quality. Popularity of any website is indicated by the page rank value. So, many website designers have developed various promotion techniques to enable obtaining of higher rank in search engine results. The major technique used to analyze the search engine results is called search engine optimization. Search engine optimization is simply the process of improving the quality and volume of traffic to a website from search engines through natural search results for targeted keywords. Search engine optimizers employ the use of search engine optimization techniques. This follow search engine guidelines that are known as white hat SEO techniques. But search engine optimizers that use website promotion techniques which do not comply with the search engine rules are known as black hat SEO.
Body
Search engine optimization creates various advantages depending on the features that have been improved. These include; helping the website designer to score higher ranking in search engine result list, attracting more online customers/users to the website and improving marketing ability of a particular site. White hat SEO techniques, which follow search engine’s rules and policies have certain advantages over black hat SEO techniques. These include; obtaining quality information and allowing the linkage between the site and the search results. Search engine optimization major entails two factors. These are On-site optimization and Off-site optimization.
On-site Optimization techniques
This includes website design features like keyword in meta tag, position of keywords, keyword formatting, keyword in title tag, keyword destiny and external link. These are controlled by the site where searching is being done. These features play important role in the search process. Website’s title tag is used by the search engine to help listing the sites in search result pages. It is also easier to find the website using search engine crawlers if keyword is included in URL. If related keywords are included in meta description tag then the website will be easily indexed.
Therefore, the informative content of the web page will easily be retrieved. For easy understanding of the information that is contained in the website, title name is normally used. Therefore, title length that gives proper content and direction are informative. Search engines prefer short length URL to enable the crawler to easily find the address of a site on internet. To improve the ranking of website, there is need to include many unique outbound links.
Off-site Optimization techniques
Off-site optimization includes various techniques:
- Click popularity
- Link reputation
- Inbound link
- Black hat SEO
These optimization techniques help search engines in a number of ways. The quality of external links is important in improving the ranking in search engine result. Therefore, optimization aims to achieve external links with good reputation. Click popularity also helps to improve the ranking in search engine result. This is achieved by search engine through tracking the IP address of the website users. Inbound link is used to determine page rank in Google. Therefore, for a website to rank high the web should have many relevant inbound links. Black hat SEO technique is not recommended because it is unethical technique, it and lowers the quality of search results.
Conclusion
Search engine optimization is a very important tool in website marketing. It promotes the attainment of higher ranking in sites listing, and also allows the users to obtain relevant information easily and quickly. Therefore, it benefits both website users and the owners. The various techniques discussed above play the role of achieving the various goal of search engine optimization.
References
Gupta, S., & Ankit , A. (2012). STUDY OF SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION. International Journal of Research in Engineering & Applied Sciences, 1529-1536.
Patil, S. P., Pawar , B. V., & Ajay, S. P. (2012). Search Engine Optimization: A Study. Research Journal of Computer and Information Technology Sciences, 10-13.
Vinit Kumar Gunjan et al. (2012). Search engine optimization with Google. International Journal of Computer Science Issues, 206-214.
