Search Engine Optimisation

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" or un-paid ("organic") search results. Typically, the higher a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search and industry-specific vertical search engines to give a web site web presence.

As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work and what people search for. Optimising a website primarily involves editing its content and HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. SEO tactics may be incorporated into web site development and design. The term "search engine friendly" (SEF) may be used to describe web site designs, menus, content management systems, images, videos, shopping carts, and other elements that have been optimised for the purpose of search engine exposure.

Another class of techniques, known as black hat SEO or spamdexing, use methods such as link farms, keyword stuffing and article spinning that degrade both the relevance of search results and the user-experience of search engines. Search engines look for sites that employ these techniques in order to remove them from their indices.