Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine’s “natural” or unpaid (“organic”) search results. In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors and web traffic it will receive from the search engine’s users. Digital marketing experts using SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search, Google Business Profile, academic search, news search, industry-specific, such as real estate SEO and vertical search engines within specific platforms such as Amazon. As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work, what people search for, the actual search terms or keywords typed into search engines and which search engines are preferred by their targeted audience. Optimizing a website may involve editing its content, HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. Promoting a site to increase the number of backlinks, or inbound links, is another SEO tactic. The plural of the abbreviation SEO can also refer to “search engine optimizers”, those who provide SEO services.
