The better optimized the page is, the higher a ranking it will achieve in search engine result listings. This is especially critical because most people who use search engines only look at the first page or two of the search results, so for a page to get high traffic from a search engine, it has to be listed in those first two pages.

So search engine optimization focuses on techniques such as making sure that each web page has appropriate title tags and meta tags, and that the keyword or key phrases for the page are distributed throughout the content in a way that the particular search engine will like.

Search engines find and catalog web pages through spidering software. Unfortunately, not all search engine spidering software works the same way, so what gives a page a high ranking on one search engine may not give it a high ranking on another. 

One of the things that search engine optimization specialists do is keep track of all the changes in search engine operations so they can optimize pages accordingly. They also keep up with changes in the different search engine submission policies.

When you choose a designer to create a business web site, you should ask him or her about search engine optimization, as search engine optimization should be built into your pages. While it's never too late to optimize or tweak pages that have already been published, it's a lot easier and more sensible to include search engine optimization when the page is first written.

Also Known As: SEO.

Examples: Sales on Karen's e-commerce site rose 210% once she had the site redone with search engine optimization in mind.

Alternate Spellings: None.

Common Misspellings: Saerch engine optimization, search engine optamization.

Related Resources:

Effective Search Engine Optimization
The basics of search engine optimization, such as choosing key words and where to place them, to help your web pages get higher rankings in the search engines.

Search Engine Optimization, Submission and Placement
Building search engine optimization into your pages and putting some effort into search engine submission is an important part of creating a business Web site that works. Here are some tips.

31 Ways To Drive Traffic To Your Business Web Site
Maria Marsala's ideas for ensuring that your business Web site will be found by your ideal client, is user friendly and is visited often includes a page of search engine optimization and submission tips.

Search Engine Optimization and Sunmission
More information on search engine optimization and search engine submission to get better search engine rankings for your Web site.

Elsewhere on the Web:

Search Engine Submission Tips
Discover how search engines find and rank web pages with this collection of articles that emphasize what you can do to improve your search engine placement (SearchEngineWatch.com).

Website Promotion Tutorials
A collection of information about search engines, search engine optimization and Internet marketing from Christine Oakley of SEO Plus.