Search Engine Optimization

Surely, many of you know from experience that acronyms are a popular part of the world in which we reside. OMG, LOL, TTYL, IDK, TY, ROFL.... However, you may not be familiar with the acronym"SEO". This simple acronym is an important one to know in this age of computers and technology.

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is a critical part of our virtual world and impacts the influences your internet experiences more than you realize. 

So what is SEO?

According to Wikipedia, it is the "process of affecting the visibility of a website or 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 it will receive from the search engine users. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search, and academic search, news search and industry-specific vertical searches engines."

How does SEO really affect me?

To illustrate the importance that this plays for each of us, let's walk through a familiar process. 

Let's suppose that we search for information from a search engine, such as Google. 

After hitting the search key, a list of results will populate on your computer screen. 

Though there may be many pages of information that populates, chances are they you won't take the time to look through all of them to find the information that you are looking for. In fact, if you are anything like me, you won't look much further than the first page. 

Not only is SEO important as a consumer in finding accurate and relevant information, but it is vitally important for businesses and organizations. It is easy to understand how an organization without popular search results will not receive very much traffic to their page. According to Buffer, "if people find you via a web search and find what they're looking for, you can receive lots of new web visitors that can help you make more money. If people can't find you in a web search, you miss an opportunity- and they might find your competitor instead."

To understand even more about what Search Engine Optimization is and how it works, the following brief video will help share the basic, but important information of this process.