Search Engines and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): Easy to Understand Information For Website Owners

Definition of Search Engine Optimisation

Return to the index of frequently asked questions about search engine optimisation.

Search Engine Optimisation Explained

Search engine optimisation is the name given to the process of editing a website in order to gain high rankings for specific keyword phrases on search engines' results pages. These rankings are known as 'organic' or 'natural' listings.

You will also see 'search engine optimisation' spelt in US English as search engine optimization and commonly abbreviated to SEO.

Search Engine Optimisers

Search Engine Optimisers (also seen as Search Engine Optimizers and SEOs) are editors who implement search engine optimisation techniques with the aim of gaining visibility and high rankings for websites in the search engine results pages for a large number of 'search phrases' or 'keywords'. SEOs can be 'tech-heads', marketeers or writers - or possibly a blend of all three.

The Beginnings of Search Engine Optimisation

Search engine optimisation first began in the mid-1990s when search engines started to crawl and index sites on the early web. At first, Webmasters just submitted the URLs of their websites to search engines, which followed the links and indexed the sites. It wasn't long before site owners and Webmasters began to see the huge advantages of ranking highly on search engines, as generally speaking, the higher ranked a website on a search results page the more visitors the website received.

Black Hat and White Hat Optimisation

The term 'black hat optimisation' was (and is) used to refer to illicit SEO techniques used by optimisers or SEOs that try to 'trick' the search engines into ranking websites as highly as possible, without necessarily meeting the guidelines published by each search engine. 'White hat optimisation' on the other hand - as practised by The Contented Website chefs of course - involves editing a website in accordance with search engine guidelines to achieve high organic rankings.

View a sample of the guidelines published for Webmasters.

Store Them Away

If you want to keep any pages tucked away in your online pantry of goodies, simply bookmark the relevant page in your browser by clicking:

  • 'Favourites' (if you're using Internet Explorer/IE)
  • 'Bookmarks' (if you're using Firefox).

"Easy-to-understand explanations to commonly-asked questions about search engine optimisation and search engines supplied by Steph Kendall, optimiser, writer and editor."